September 15 is Guyana’s 2012 Census Day for the commencement of enumeration activities for the Seventh Post-War National Population and Housing Census.
Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh on Tuesday signed the mandatory Census Order and Regulations as required under Chapter 19:09, the Statistics Act of the Laws of Guyana, a press release from the Government Information Agency (GINA) stated.
The issuance of the Ministerial Order and Regulations declaring Census Day in one month’s time, signals that all of the myriad preparations for this census which began more than three years ago are in their final stages of completion and those Guyanese who have opted to be a part of this mammoth national exercise, managed by the Bureau, will be ready to commence their work in four weeks’ time.
Guyana’s impending census is part of the global round of Population and Housing Censuses for the current 2010 Round whereby almost all countries which are members of the United Nations have conducted and completed their national censuses during the period which commenced in 2005 and concludes in 2014, the demarcated period for the 2010 Round of Censuses.
In fact during the meeting of 43rd Session of the United Nations Statistical Commission, the highest global body for policy making in Statistics, held at the UN Headquarters in February this year, a resolution was passed on behalf of the Secretary-General urging all governments which had not yet executed their National Population and Housing Censuses under the current 2010 Round, to make every effort to so do before the end of the 2010 Round in 2014. Considering the massive, demanding and costly nature of the census exercise, this activity in most countries is held just once every 10 years.
Guyana has traditionally organised its censuses with the rest of the other CARICOM group of countries, under the coordination of the Statistics Division of the CARICOM Secretariat.
Guyana and
Suriname
According to GINA, for this round, except for Haiti which has been unable to mount a census because of its devastation by natural disasters in recent years, all other countries, except for Guyana and Suriname, conducted and completed their national censuses in the years 2010 or 2011.
Minister Singh’s inking of the necessary Census Order and Regulations on Tuesday coincided with the completion of an intensive eight days of training for approximately 100 Regional Census Coordinators and Assistants, Area Coordinators recruited from and assigned to all 10 regions of Guyana and other Bureau staff who will be in the front line of training and management of the enumeration activities in every area and region of Guyana.
Meanwhile, these core persons who were just trained will disperse to all 10 regions to train the 3,000 plus enumerators from all walks of life who have applied and have been selected for training as enumerators and supervisors, GINA stated.
The issuance of the Ministerial Order and Regulations came just one day after Suriname’s Census day which was on Monday, August 13, and which was defined inter alia by the commencement of enumeration at the first household, that of President Desi Bouterse.
The census is the only national exercise where every building is counted and every household within every building or any economic activity within each building are enumerated and/or recorded, at the same period in time.
The census is and has always been much more than a headcount – it is a check and evaluation of the changing size, composition, quality of life, economic activities, maternal health, fertility rates, housing stock, qualification and education levels, foreign-born population, access to basic social services, just to name a few.
The plethora of information that will be collected will assist the policy makers in determining whether Guyana is on track to achieve several of the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals).
For the CARICOM region, the census information of each individual country is eagerly awaited by the CARICOM Secretariat in order to do a regional analysis of the whole region for the benefit of the region’s Heads of Government. The availability of the census information of each country also allows each CARICOM member country to evaluate its own progress, or not, over the past 10 years, relative to other member countries.
For every country the success of a national census requires the full participation, cooperation and support of all residents.
Guyana has a history of census taking since 1831, and the depth and quality of information from all previous censuses was only possible through the full support of all residents, and not just Guyanese because everyone in the geographical boundaries of Guyana on Census Night will be counted.
As enumerators, who will be properly identified, prepare to receive their final training before dispersing to visit every building and household, all residents are urged to prepare for these visits.
Residents should acquaint and educate themselves from the material and programmes that will surge from all aspects of the media, as it is this very information which will be of so much value in some aspect to every individual and household.
This would include information sought by schoolchildren preparing for the National Grade Six Assessment, or the university student or the teacher at training college doing research, or the businessman assessing the potential size of the market for a particular product or the commercial banks attempting to identify growing population centres for purposes of constructing new branches, or the education or health authorities at the policy level.
There is no other comprehensive data base like that of a National Population and Housing Census.
751,000 in 2002
In Census 2002, Guyana’s resident population was 751,000. All await to see what it is 10 years later.
The size, composition and dispersion of Guyana’s population is also a matter of national security and it is for these reasons and more that all countries, and Guyana is no exception, recognise the critical importance of the census exercise to human and economic development, evidence-based policy making and ensuring the security of their citizenry, GINA added.
