Prince Charles counted in Solomon’s Census

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His Royal Highness Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales has been enumerated and recorded in the Solomon Islands population count as a foreigner after the Census Office counted him on the ‘Census Night’ (Sunday 24^th November).

Prince Charles who made an official visit to the country on 23^rd-25^th November was residing at the British High Commissioner’s residence at Tanuli Ridge, Central Honiara when the Census Office enumerated/counted him.

Census Commissioner, Douglas Kimi said this is one of the highlights of the 2019 National Population Census and will go down in the country’s history records.

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He said that having someone of such prominence counted in the country’s census is a ‘history’ given that the Solomon Islands was a British protectorate before independence and that Prince Charles will be the future King of the United Kingdom and the commonwealth of nations, where the Solomon Islands is also a part of the commonwealth of nations.

Mr. Kimi said that the Solomon Islands Census process follows international (UN) and statistical standards and being conducted on a de-facto basis as in many Pacific Island Countries, example Fiji and other countries in the world.

“This basically means that the Census enumerated (count) the population who are ‘physically present’ – in the household or non-dwelling households/institutions such as hotels, ships, jail/prison, hospital etc. in the country (sovereign territory) and not outside the country (outside the sovereign territory) during the census night – regardless of whether the person is a citizen, non-citizen or foreigner, resident or visitor.

He said that ‘Census Night’ serves as a reference point for the actual enumeration or counting period which commenced on 4^th November and ended on 8^th December 2019.

“The ‘Census Night’ is a statistical reference point or period for a census. Statistically, by mid-Night of the 24^th November, 2019, we will have counted all people in our nation, with data collected referenced to the mid-night of 24^th November 2019,” he said.

The Census Commissioner said that due to security reasons and strict protocols, Census enumerators (field officers) did not turn up physically to do the head count of the Prince but instead submitted a census questionnaire form at the British High Commissioner’s residence and they filled the form with Prince Charles and then submitted it to the Census Office in Honiara through collection by our enumeration team.

“Yes, it’s a history and this will be kept in our archives for future referencing.” 

The Prince spent two nights at the British High Commissioner’s Residence during his recent visit to Honiara, which ended with a stunning speech he delivered in Pidjin to a packed Lawson Tama ground, Monday 25^th.

Prince Charles arrived in the country on Saturday 23^rd November and left on Monday 25^th November. Census field enumeration ended on Sunday 8^th December but data cleaning and processing is expected to start soon.

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