We have 141 days before the 2020 Census enumeration starts.
Hello Papua New Guinea! Belated Happy New Year and best wishes to you in 2020. On that note, I welcome you back to our weekly update on the activities of the National Statistical Office and the 2020 National Population and Housing Census.
As you know, 2020 is the census year and the country will conduct its next round of population count in July. The census is a national event and it will cover the length and breath of PNG to count every single living person, both citizens and non-citizens.
NSO is now in full swing in ensuring that the 2020 Census is conducted in compliance with set standards and in accordance with the United Nation’s Principles and Recommendations for the Population and Housing Census. PNG as a member or the UN family will conform to those UN standards.
This week, training is being conducted for Training of Trainers for the Structural Listing at the national level in Port Moresby. The training will then proceed to the provinces for officers at the provincial level who will undertake the Structural Listing in all the census units/villages.
What is a Structural Listing? A Structural Listing is one of the preparatory phases of the census. It is a pre-census and the quality of Structural Listing will form the basis for a good population coverage during the main census count. The main objective of the 2020 Census is to do a complete count of every person in PNG, both citizens and non-citizens, at a point in time and that is on the night of Sunday, 12th July 2020. Next week, I will thoroughly explain the main things done during the Structural Listing exercise and its purpose.
In the meantime, I would like take this opportunity to thank the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (ARO) for signing a Memorandum of Understanding with NSO to co-share the cost of conducting the population census in the region. With the limited resources NSO has at its disposal, it appreciates the support which AROB is extending. NSO anticipates similar support from other provincial governments as the provinces will take ownership of the population data to serve their development needs whilst NSO maintains its mandated responsibility as the custodian of the population and other socio-economic data.
Thank you for following our column for public knowledge and awareness purposes.
Until then, that is all for now.