Census continues with accuracy, validity among primary concerns

As the 2022 census continues, the Bureau of Statistics is ensuring accuracy, validity, and quality in the process and its data.
Chief Statistician at the Bureau, Errol La Cruez provided an update on the census in an interview with the Department of Public Information (DPI) on Friday.
“The initial phase of enumeration would have been complete, but we have additional enumeration taking place. There were households that we were not able to meet, there were persons that we were not able to meet when we did the initial pass, and we are now working to reach out to those persons to be able to count everyone,” he stated.
He said the Bureau strives to achieve 100 per cent coverage in the census and is reaching out to several agencies to identify individuals or households that have not been counted.
“We are also checking administrative data, which is looking at data from utility companies and other data sets, where we have information on households, the location of households. We would’ve used information from the Ministry of Housing, and this is all in an effort to ensure that we reach everyone and we are continuing that effort to get as close as possible to 100 per cent coverage of the population.
“We are also checking the quality of the data to see if there is anything that we need to go back into the fields and correct, or if there are any quality issues that need to be addressed before we bring a close to the census operation,” he explained, adding that the Bureau is hopeful that field activities may be completed by the end of the year.
Additionally, to increase efficiency in the compilation and analysis process, the Bureau is implementing Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in its systems. Enumerators are now using tablets to collect the information, which is then uploaded via a cloud computing system for immediate availability.
“Whereas in previous censuses the information would have been collected on a piece of paper, and you bring that paper and input that information into a computer system, then you’d have to work on it, that intermediate phase has been eliminated. We are getting access to the information as soon as it is uploaded into the cloud, which means that the analysis and the preliminary reports, things that are coming out from that data, we should be able to get them a lot faster than before and we have already started working on those,” La Cruez further explained.
Addressing several security concerns in the counting process, La Cruez assured that the Bureau of Statistics remains easily accessible for any queries.
“I want to assure persons that the census is still ongoing, and to ensure that you are interfacing with a real census employee and not someone posing to be with the census, ask for their badge, and then if you are still concerned, reach out on one of our hotline numbers.”
The National Population and Housing Census is a process where all persons in Guyana are counted. The census provides detailed information on the population size, age structure, educational attainment, labour force, housing, and many other socio-economic characteristics.
Persons who have not been counted in the census can reach out via WhatsApp or telephone at 701-8700 or 701-8701.