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Field enumeration (counting) for the 2019 National Population and Housing Census has been successfully completed on Sunday 8th December 2019.
Actual field enumeration started on 4th November to 8th December covering all the nine provinces including Honiara City.
Census Commissioner Douglas Kimi said it was a challenging undertaking though a success as field operation effectively done.
He said now that field enumeration is over, the Census Office will now be making all necessary efforts to transfer all census filled forms from the provincial census bureau’s back to the Census Headquarter Office in Honiara for data processing.
Mr. Kimi said one of the highlights of this year’s census is the enumeration of the Prince of Wales, Prince Charles on the Census night, 24 November.
“It’s history and will remain a history for the country in future census undertakings.”
Mr. Kimi thanked every census staff from Census District Superintendent (CDS) to enumerators for all their tireless efforts and commitments in ensuring field enumeration successfully completed.
Mr Kimi also thanked all the people of the Solomon Islands who participated in the census and took time to answer questions even during their busy schedules. Mr Kimi also took the opportunity to acknowledge the support for citizens from other countries and residents who also participated during the census operation.
“There is not perfect census in this world but the efforts and commitments displayed by the census staff – supervisors and enumerators towards their assigned task was really encouraging.
“Information gathered will surely guide and support policy-makers and the government to make better decisions and policies and plan for the future of Solomon Islands. “Mr. Kimi said.
Mr. Kimi also acknowledged the government for its continuous financial support towards the census project and other National Survey Projects being implemented by the National Statistics Office (NSO). Special thanks are attributed to the Minister for Finance and Treasury, Hon. Harry Kuma and Permanent Secretary McKinnie Dentana for their overall leadership and oversight of the project including technical advice and assistance from Dr. Willie Lahari.
This year’s census was the biggest ever census operation with about 3,000 field officers (enumerators and supervisors) being recruited by the Census Office and carried out data collection across the country compared to previous censuses, and in a short period of time.
Also it was the biggest-ever census attempted in our development history in terms of the scope and nature of questions being asked from the current population. These include questions about the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of individuals within private households and non-private dwellings such as age, gender, religion, occupation, education, disability, economic activity financial inclusion, natural disaster and even a question on the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) was asked.
The massive exercise, spread over 6 weeks and concluded on December 8, 2019.
“…Data/information gathered is important for the nation as well as you.
“The government uses the data collected during the exercise for planning of development programmes. It is also important for the budget allocation process for the national government, and will be used in future planning, as well as monitor the progress of government development programs.
“The data is also used by National and International agencies to inform critical decisions on diverse issues including data for the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. So, your participation is very important,” Mr. Kimi emphasised.
Solomon Islands have its first census count in 1970, the second was in 1976, and again in 1986, 1999 and the latest and the fifth one in the series was in 2009.
Census is the official count of how many people and dwellings there are in the country (SI). It gives a unique snapshot of our communities. Information from the census helps determine how government funding is spent in the community. Preliminary result of the 2019 Population Census is likely to ready by mid-2020.
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