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Experts from the region discuss use of IT in population censuses

Ahead of the 2010 round of population censuses, the Statistics Division of ESCAP organized the Expert Group Meeting on Effective Use of IT in Population Censuses in Bangkok from 10 to 12 December 2007. It was attended by over 30 experts from 14 countries in the region.

The objectives of the EGM was to provide guidance to national statistical offices and census offices on how to make better use of information technology (IT) in collecting, editing, storing, analysing and disseminating population census data. The meeting also aimed at identifying specific areas where ESCAP, together with other international development partners, can facilitate the exchange of relevant knowledge, expertise and good practices.

The experts attending the meeting shared their experiences in evaluating, managing and implementing technologies at various stages of censuses, including planning, field operations, data capture, data processing and dissemination. They agreed on a number of conclusions pertaining to ongoing trends that affect the application of IT in upcoming population censuses and lessons learned in applying IT in the previous round of censuses. They also issued several recommendations addressing Governments in the region as well as statistical and census offices in the region, including ESCAP and the Japan-based Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP).

Among others, the meeting urged Governments to ensure that national legislations take into account modern information and communication technologies (ICT) and provide the requisite environment for the effective and safe implementation of ICT in population and housing censuses, and other official data collection operations. Also, it encouraged Governments to educate decision makers on the importance and use of census results as well as on strategic ICT investments for data collection, archiving and dissemination.

Addressing relevant offices in the region, the meeting recommended for example that sufficient time be allowed for testing hardware, software and applications before adopting them for the census, and that attractive and user-friendly web sites for censuses be created.

The discussions during the meeting were facilitated by papers that the invited experts had prepared on various aspects of applying IT in their own country’s censuses, as well as the report of the survey on information technologies applied in population and housing censuses during the 2000 round of censuses and related plans for the 2010 round of censuses that ESCAP had conducted during the third quarter of 2007.

Note: More information about the above EGM can be found at <www.unescap.org/stat/meet/egm2007>.