Census 2003
Population number by June
-Chief Statistician
By Andre Haynes
Stabroek News
April 20, 2003
Initial profiles coming from the National Population and Housing Census are expected to be released by June of this year by the Bureau of Statistics, while more detailed information could be available by September.
The bureau, according to Chief Statistician Lennox Benjamin, has begun scanning and processing data collected by enumerators, while simultaneously completing enumeration in Regions 1 and 7.
Enumeration in Region 1 (Barima/Waini) is now into the third week, while the exercise began in Region 7 (Cuyuni/Mazaruni) last Monday. The activities in both areas are expected to come to a conclusion by the end of this month.
Benjamin told Stabroek News that apart from these outstanding areas, which account for an estimated 3% of Guyana’s total population, the number of persons yet to be enumerated is less than 0.1% of the population.
“It is certainly less than 100, and more likely less than 50.”
He added that the bureau has begun scanning and processing census questionnaires to derive an aggregate count of the population and a detailed count by such profiles as location, gender and economic status. This was done after consistency checks, editing and coding of the questionnaires.
He said the basic challenges in Region 1 were the vastness of the terrain and heavy dependence on riverain travel to access households and communities. He said the enumerators are persons from the area who know the area well and who are well known to families in the area.
Excluding Bartica, he said the population in Region 7 which was yet to be enumerated was about 5,000 persons who are primarily in the mining communities. He said one of the biggest challenges so far was the present dry spell which was forcing the bureau to fly its staff into the area.
Benjamin further explained that in Guyana, accessibility to any area away from the coast was a challenge and he noted that the cost to enumerate someone from the hinterland was far higher than the cost to enumerate someone from the coast.
But he said because it was a census, “we cannot allow mere consideration of cost to determine whether a community is met. This is the reality we have to face but the information we will gain will compensate.”
When asked to comment on criticism of the extension of enumeration - it had been initially projected to be completed by the end of October 2002 after a mid-September start - Benjamin explained that the conclusion of enumeration was only the completion of phase one of the census exercise.
“We started in mid-September and... most people focus on the completion of the field exercise as the completion of the census. And the day this is completed they... look forward to a number.”
Because of the mammoth size of the population in most countries, he said the enumeration exercise would therefore have to be enumerated by temporary staff. The job of the bureau is to ensure that further checks are done on the data submitted as far as possible, he said. “Checks for quality of the information submitted and [checks for] total coverage... The whole concept [is that] of total coverage; all countries have to invest a lot of time even after the completion of the field exercise.”
He also stressed that the Census also comprised “Housing,” for which questionnaires also included a map with indicators for every building standing in each area. And he noted that with the advancement in technology, it was now possible to generate precise profiles of commercial, economic, cultural and informational value. And he further noted that in relative terms the whole exercise was always ongoing, citing as an example Trinidad and Tobago, which conducted its census in 2000. “It took them two years to generate figures in a detailed [format]. There is no use in generating a number if you don’t have a profile. It is very important for investors who may be interested in the academic levels of a particular area, it may be important to the government for them to survey infrastructure, and otherwise... it’s a mammoth spectrum of information and so much time has to be invested.”
Benjamin also said the whole question of the approach to census taking was still being researched and revamped. But he noted that the approach assumed by the bureau had been in total conformity with the guidelines and standards set globally.
