Guyana will not only be contributing to the global round, but also to the regional round, as Guyana's Census information will further enhance the pool of regional information already available from the other countries of CARICOM (Suriname will still be the exception at this point in time), which have already conducted their Censuses in years 2000 and 2001.

Census day for Guyana is once again upon us (tomorrow), just about 11 years and four months to the date since our last Census date on 12th May 1991. Census date defines the point of reference at which our Population and Housing stock will once again be counted and evaluated. Modern society has institutionalised the practice of having a national Census on average once every 10 years.

We therefore in Guyana, an integral part of this modern society, are no exception. Ironically however, most countries as part of their preparations for their Census, do find that every 10 years they have to embark on a major public education programme to explain, justify, promote and guarantee the success of every Census.

Yet the Census is not an invention of modern society. Civilised nations have been counting their people for centuries. History has it recorded that in ancient Egypt, people had to list their names, addresses, occupations, even their scars, once every 14 years. One Roman ruler decreed that anyone who didn't answer the census honestly and completely was liable to forfeit all possessions, be whipped and sold into slavery.

Centuries of evolution and development have allowed modern society to transform this major national and global exercise from one of coercion in ancient times to one of contribution and cooperation by every citizen and resident, through the willing provision of information that is required by law.

In the rapid turmoil, twists and changes of today's world, 11 years and four months is a very long time indeed. We have seen in a similar month, just one year ago, how the world as we know it could change within a period of just two hours - jobs lost, economic recessions, companies folding up, economies within our own region suffering terrific downturns. There was one common factor in all this - people the world over, just like any average Guyanese, were severely affected.

With everything around us changing so fundamentally and quickly, it would be naïve to think that the most important resource at the centre of it all, the human resource, will not too have been subjected to fundamental change.

If ever a case is to be made therefore for a review and reassessment of this country's premier asset, its human resources, and the attendant social conditions, the time is indeed now and the rationale for such could not be stronger.

With all of the social upheavals and escalation of crime in certain areas of the country, an understanding of the current profile of our population can be a tremendous boost to our planners in their efforts to devise economic, social and environmental programmes of amelioration. Guyana's population languished around the three quarter million mark in the 1980s and then declined to 723,000 by the 1991 Census. The decline was in no way unexpected because the period of the 1980s had witnessed one of the most sustained periods of exodus by skilled and non-skilled Guyanese.

The bothersome reality is that the exodus still continues. One major consideration that the decline of the population from the 1980s has driven home, is that countries with small populations like Guyana have as many, though uniquely different, population related problems as the more populous countries of the world.

The current Census will have to confront some new challenges that were not so prominent in the Censuses past. Not least among them is the changing fabric of the resident population, brought about by the influx of nationals from our neighbouring countries on a scale that we did not before experience. Given that Guyana is the only English-speaking country on the South American mainland, the challenge of effectively communicating with those persons wherever they are found will further test the Census' management.

Societies have repeatedly united in the face of challenges and crises. The Census is a national exercise. It is a Census of the people, by the people and for the people. The Census provides an opportunity for the uniting of the citizens and residents of this country in a most important cause of self-assessment that goes way beyond just a total count.