The national population and household census is 70-75% complete and enumerators have about two more weeks to finish the remaining households.
The census requires a 100% count of the population but the internationally acceptable norm is a 2% error. Based on surveys the Statistical Bureau has conducted in the period since the 1991 census, and the monitoring of the statistics related to births, deaths and migration, it has calculated an “anticipated total population.”
One objective of the census is to confirm and update information gathered at previous censuses.
Updating the Stabroek News as to the progress made in the exercise over the past five weeks, Chief Statistician at the Statistical Bureau, Lennox Benjamin said all enumerators have been operating for about five weeks in all the regions except Region One (Barima/Waini) and the hinterland areas of Region Seven (Mazaruni/Cuyuni). He explained that the Bureau had taken the decision to leave these two areas until near the end of the exercise because of the difficult terrain, which calls for river travel to access the households in those areas.
The work in the other regions he said covered 84-88 per cent of the population.
Benjamin said that as would be expected the enumeration was proceeding faster in some areas relative to others. He said too that the concentration was now on the urban areas of Region 4 (Demerara/Mahaica) such as parts of Queenstown and the Castello Housing Scheme.
Commenting about the co-operation being given the enumerators, Benjamin said this has improved and persons were now calling his office to say that the enumerators had not visited them. He attributed this to the effectiveness of the publicity programme, which the Bureau mounted, that moved the public away from their concern about security to seeking clarification of the questions being asked and the relevance of some of the questions.
The questions about which most concern is being shown are those related to the income of the household and the equipment in the household. Benjamin explained that these questions have been answered by Guyanese residing in the other CARICOM states.
He said he has been informed by the bureaux in those states that they have a reasonable profile of the Guyanese residing in the various states in terms of numbers, gender, educational standards, income and other related information.
The Chief Statistician commenting on some of the hiccups said that attrition among enumerators was a problem but that it was being addressed by the re-assigning of enumerators who have completed the work in their districts.
Another was the shortened daylight time as is usual for this time of the year.
Benjamin said that the enumerators have been advised not to make visits after dark and as a result a good many of them have to make their visits at weekends.
He said too that already various checks are being made to ensure that the questionnaires are correctly completed and where errors are discovered returning them to the individual enumerator.
Asked about complaints that enumerators have not made promised return visits to households, Benjamin said that the co-ordinators in checking the work of the enumerators under his control should note the incomplete questionnaires and get from the enumerators their schedules of their return visits.
Benjamin attributed the generally positive response of the public to reaching the target audience directly in their homes through television and radio.
He said too that a feature of this census is that the contact with the community would not end with the enumeration exercise, since the Statistical Bureau would be returning to them with the profiles of the various communities as compiled from the information gathered during the census.
Benjamin said that the CARICOM Secretariat would shortly be convening a meeting for the various member states to report on the progress of their censuses and prepare for the regional and national analysis of the data.