Guyana's National Census will begin on September 15, making it the 7th Post War National Population and Housing Census for the former British colony, according to the Government Information Agency (GINA).

Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh on Tuesday signed the signed the mandatory Census Order and Regulations under the Laws of Guyana, identifying Saturday, September 15 as Guyana’s 2012 Census Day.

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 of 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.

Because of 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.  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.

As Minister Singh executed the necessary Census Order and Regulations on Tuesday, this 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.  In fact these core persons just trained will now 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.

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 His Excellency, Desi Bouterse.  For Guyana, 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.

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. 

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.  Needless to say, Suriname’s commencement of Census activities in the field two  days ago and now Guyana’s announced Census day in four weeks time are fully supported by the Secretariat and all other Member countries as both Guyana and Suriname are integral to the regional pool of data on the region’s population, state of development and quality of Life.

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, note residents and not just Guyanese because everyone in the geographical boundaries of Guyana on Census night will be counted.

As enumerators prepare to receive their final training before dispersing, properly identified,  to visit every building and household, all residents are urged to prepare for these visits, to 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 in very short thrift turns out to be of so much value in some aspect to every individual and household, whether it is for the information sought by our 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 market for a particular product or the commercial banks attempting to identify growing population centres for purposes of constructing new branches, or at policy level the education or health authorities, there is no other comprehensive data base like that of a National Population and Housing Census.

In Census 2002, our resident population was 751,000. All await to see what it is 10 years later.

In his 2012 budget speech, Minister Singh had stated “…this Government has long recognised the critical importance of every country executing a Census of its population and housing facilities every ten years as is the global standard, and in keeping with this cycle, censuses were conducted in 2002 and previously in 1991. Another decade has now passed and the 2010 Round of Global Censuses which runs until 2014 is now in its final stages. Guyana continues to be a part of the Regional approach to census-taking coordinated by the CARICOM Secretariat.

 The size, composition and dispersion of our 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. Government now intends for the next national census to be executed in the second half of 2012…”

Upon signing the Census Order and Regulations, Minister Singh stated that “Census 2012 represents our latest efforts to update the vast array of data we compile on national life to inform policy-making by Government and decision-making by other stakeholders such as the business community. I have no doubt that the 2012 census will prove equally valuable in this regard, and I wish the Bureau of Statistics every success in executing this important national activity”.