Census: 72% Of Assessment Numbers Done
Premier Michael Dunkley provided an update on the Census progress in the House of Assembly today [Nov 14], saying that as of 7th November, 72% of assessment numbers have been accounted – which includes a combination of residential, vacant, derelict and commercial assessment numbers.
The Premier said, “Southampton and Hamilton parishes have the highest completion rates at 80% and Sandys parish has the lowest completion rate at 63%.
“At the census district level, there are 3 census districts with a 100% completion rate however there are still a significant number of census districts that fall below 60% completion rate. There are a total of 246 census districts. All districts with outstanding households to be counted are actively being targeted by interviewers.”
The Premier’s full statement follows below:
Good morning Mr. Speaker,
I rise to inform the Members of this Honourable House and the people of Bermuda of the progress of the 2016 Population and Housing Census data collection to date.
As of 7th November, 2016, 72% of assessment numbers have been accounted for which includes a combination of residential, vacant, derelict and commercial assessment numbers.
Mr. Speaker, I am also positioned to report the progress geographically. Southampton and Hamilton parishes have the highest completion rates at 80% and Sandys parish has the lowest completion rate at 63%.
At the census district level, there are 3 census districts with a 100% completion rate however there are still a significant number of census districts that fall below 60% completion rate. There are a total of 246 census districts. All districts with outstanding households to be counted are actively being targeted by interviewers.
Mr. Speaker, the Department of Statistics has completed the first two phases of the census. The e-Census concluded on 13th July and the Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews ended on 24th August.
The third phase of the census is the Computer Assisted Personal Interviews whereby interviewers visit households that have not completed their census questionnaires to collect information. This phase began on 1st September and the goal is to complete this phase by 31st December.
Mr. Speaker, the census is a national undertaking and requires the support of all residents in order to achieve the goal of a 100% completion rate. In this regard, I take this opportunity to thank all households who have completed their questionnaires and to remind residents that participation in the 2016 Census is mandatory by law and our civic duty.
The interview should only take approximately 5-10 minutes per person. Outstanding households are asked to complete their questionnaire by either visiting or calling the Department of Statistics at 297-7761, or, by cooperating with an interviewer who will visit their home. There have been incidences wherein householders have declined to participate. As a reminder, failing to complete the census interview may result in a fine up to $1,000 per day upon conviction.
Mr. Speaker, in closing, I would like to extend my appreciation to the Director of the Department of Statistics, Mrs. Melinda Williams, and her team of Statisticians and support staff for their commitment to the data collection process.
Although not planned, staff have been called upon to conduct interviews and have completed over 1,900 telephone interviews and approximately 500 in-person interviews. Additional Interviewers have now been recruited and trained to complement the team in an effort complete the surveys in a timely fashion.
I wish to also thank the people of Bermuda for their support of this initiative of national importance, and to encourage participation by all, Because People Count.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Can we have an Assessment on how this Airport deal is gonna F!@# us in de LONG RUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PLP are good at F!@#n things up, hell they complete 1 project on time or on buget.. I would worry if the PLP had anything to do with it… (other than complain)
Not with that attitude and spelling.
Come on. Tell us what is bothering you on the inside.
You’ve not been paying attention.
I question half of the information returned on these census anyway .
A huge percentage of people lie about their earnings or whether they own property because they want to keep myths and folklore alive .
And no-one has to prove anything anyway . You can claim to rent and own nothing but there no backups to determine who your landlord would be . You can say you earn $45,000 a year and you could be pulling in $85,000
No one knows.
It would be nice if we could accurately assess exactly what the unemployment figure is though .
That’s not to be confused with people who never have and don’t want to work though but would claim to be unemployed . See ? No proof again !
@Toodle-oo…so in the absence of a census…how do you suggest we collect this information?
If respondents can get away with giving unsubstantiated answers and false information it doesn’t matter how it’s collected .
For myself , I thought this year’s census was very barebones in terms of the questions asked and the number of them .
To me it almost looked as though the government had tried to make it as unintrusive as possible .
As far as information on wages go that is already collected in the regular government employment surveys .
But I surely can’t be the only person who know people who have substantial real estate holdings (4+ properties) a good job and travel many times a year who refuse to be ‘counted’ at any cost . And on the rare occasion that they have been caught they claim to ‘rent’ and give a yearly income figure a fifth of what they really pull in .
All the stats office can do is ask persons to be honest in their response. Unless it is obvious or picked up when they run data quality checks, there is no way that they can tell if someone is being dishonest. But…this is also a challenge that any Stats office around the office would face. In fact, anyone conducting a survey would face these challenges. Not sure how they can get around this.
Also, if I recall correctly, the Stats office did indicate that this year’s Census was a shortened version of previous ones, as it was the first time that they had moved to conducting more frequent censuses. The short version of the census will alternate with the traditional long version. The short version can provide baseline data in between the long form census.
Wage data collected by the regular employment survey is a great source of information. However, it does not allow you to produce wage data by highest education, parish, age, etc.
How do they count people living ten or more to a three bedroom house that sleep on shifts? I did mine online the first week in.
They call Donald Trump and he let’s them know how many undocumented immigrants live in the three bedroom house.
@Sage…they ask how many people live in the house…and for people they may not be there at the time of the interview…they make arrangements to collect their details at a later time.
Am I missing something here? Census day was May 20, and here we are 6 months later and we have counted less than 3/4 of our population. Is this the expected timeline? It seems a bit of a slow process, but I am not privy to the details…good luck with getting the rest done and counted!
@Vigilate…not everyone took advantage of the online and telephone options that were available…so they had to try and hire interviewers to go door to door to collect information…and not everyone cooperates on the doorstep.