Preparations for Population and Housing Census stepped up
Stabroek News
July 30, 2002
The Statistical Bureau is stepping up its preparations for the Population and Housing Census, scheduled to begin on September 16.
Chief Statistician, Lennox Benjamin, told Stabroek News that staff from the bureau would visit Regions Five (Mahaica/Berbice) and Six (East Corentyne/Berbice) to identify coordinators who would monitor and supervise the work of the enumerators in the various enumeration districts. The team has already carried out a similar exercise in Region Two (Pomeroon/Supenaam).
Each enumeration district will consist of about 400-500 households and the enumerator for a district, according to Benjamin, will be required to visit each building in the district between September 16 and October 31.
The population present in Guyana with reference to Census Day which is September 15, will be included in the de facto count and those out of the country on that day will be included in the de jure count. The information about persons absent from Guyana will be obtained from relatives or neighbours.
He said that the police have been notified and their advice and assistance have been requested.
A concern he said is ensuring that there is staff to cover each enumeration district. He pointed out that the response in some areas has been overwhelming while in others not at the level expected.
He said that the bureau cooperates with the regional administration in identifying places for training and conducting interviews.
Benjamin said that though the deadline for applications for the position of field enumerators was the end of February the bureau has been responding to applications received after that because of the overwhelming response to its advertisements.
The chief statistician said that the timing of the census would also allow for the use of teachers, who have in the past been the main source of his field staff. He explained that in some areas they helped breakdown the suspicion of the households because of the high regard in which they are held.
Benjamin said too that one of the main challenges of the census is the need to ensure the accuracy of the maps of the enumeration districts with contiguous boundaries.
The Statistical Bureau has prepared the maps, which required the staff to visit each enumeration district to ensure every building is included on the map. This process, Benjamin said, took about 18 months.
The cost of the census is some $125 million, which the government will fund outright. About $95 million is to be spent on enumeration-related activities. In the past the UNFPA bore some 60 per cent of the cost.
The high cost to governments in terms of finance and human resources for these exercises has led to the United Nations considering censuses being held at shorter intervals. The CARICOM Secretariat is coordinating the present round of censuses taking in the CARICOM states, thus making possible the sharing of expertise present in the community.
Benjamin said as a result of the new technology being introduced for this exercise a preliminary count of the population will be available by February and a more detailed count by June. Results from previous censuses took up to three years to produce.