2002 census indicates no major population shift
--Chief Statistician
By Jaime Hall
Guyana Chronicle
February 27, 2004
THE preliminary report on the National Housing and Population Census 2002 compiled by the Bureau of Statistics indicates no major shift in the Guyana population. However, the report, which was officially presented to Minister of Finance Mr Saisnarine Kowlessar yesterday, places focus on the need for greater analytical planning.
Chief Statistician Mr. Lennox Benjamin handed over a copy of the document to Minister Kowlessar during a brief ceremony in the Boardroom of the Ministry of Finance.
Mr. Kowlessar will, in turn, submit the document to Cabinet and inform senior Government officials on the findings of the survey.
The handing over of the report signals the completion of the second phase of the census exercise. The first phase was the gathering of data in the fields.
After the report is presented to Cabinet, the public will be notified about its findings.
The census exercise is the total review and assessment of the full profile of this country’s population and building stock at a specific period of time.
The preliminary count will provide information on Guyana’s population by gender, households, institutions, locations, ethnicity, economic activity and educational levels among things.
The information gathered on each person could determine useful cross sector correlation data that could be used nationally, regionally and internationally.
In his remarks at the presentation ceremony, Mr. Benjamin pointed out that the public’s focus on the census seems to be on numbers. He explained that the Bureau is disappointed with this focus, which he described as “demeaning”.
Each person, Benjamin said, represents much more than a number. The census reflects several profiles, which include gender, location, educational level, ethnicity and religious persuasion, all of which have to be processed and correlated, he informed the gathering.
Benjamin explained that as the Bureau continues its work on the project, a more detailed processing of the population would be completed by the agency later this year.
When the time has come for a full public dissemination of the findings, the Bureau, in collaboration with CARICOM, will conduct a media workshop to examine the concept being used, rather than just looking at mere figures, Benjamin stated.
He said that the process of collecting data took some time because of a number of factors. The main difficulty was the task of getting to all the households across Guyana. Some communities are located in very difficult terrain.
According to Benjamin, the census report will be funneled into the Caribbean census machinery, another very important and valuable aspect of the survey.
CARICOM’s Regional Census Coordinator, Mr. Osmond Gordon, who was present at yesterday’s presentation ceremony, pointed out that since the 1960s censuses have been regionally coordinated exercises.
The idea behind this approach, Gordon said, is for states to be better able to coordinate decision-making at the national and regional levels within CARICOM.
Gordon said it is very important that the data collected and analysed have uniformity of concept, definition and procedure in order to help authorities and agencies to draw conclusions across the Region.