All set for Census 2001

Valerie Nam, (right) Director of Censuses, Demographic and Social Statistics at the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN), gives an overview of the 2001 Population Census during yesterday's launch at the Ministry of Finance and Planning. With her is Sonia Jackson, Director General of STATIN. - Ian Allen

JAMAICANS SHOULD get a more accurate picture of the extent of crime in the island when the findings of the 2001 Population Census are published in June next year.

That's because among the areas being surveyed by the census, which begins next Tuesday, is the number of persons in households across the island who have been victims of specific types of crimes.

Questionnaires will also elicit information on demographic factors such as age and gender, issues such as living conditions, the prevalence of chronic diseases, and the composition of households, including whether children are living with their natural parents and if the elderly are living alone.

Reluctance by members of the public to co-operate with census takers has been identified as the main challenge the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) is likely to face when the census gets rolling.

But officials from STATIN and the Ministry of Finance and Planning are assuring the public that there is nothing to fear in answering the questions of the census takers, who will be collecting data from September 11 to December 31, as the information will be kept confidential, and the census is not linked to general elections or enforcing tax-collection.

"This is not a political exercise and has nothing to do with political parties," said Minister of Finance and Planning Dr. Omar Davies as he launched the census at the Ministry's offices in Kingston yesterday.

"Rather, it is the first tool that any Government in office and the private sector should use in the process of nation-building."

Noting that the Statistics Act makes it mandatory for every Jamaican to make themselves available to census takers, he emphasised that the Act also mandates that the information collected be treated confidentially. "Nobody will ever be tracked based on their census data," the Minister emphasised.

Dr. Davies also told the gathering that while the census has nothing to do with partisan politics, he has called on the major political parties to give their full support to the exercise and has received favourable responses. This, he said, should assist in making the public aware that the census was not about "Govern-ment faasing in people business", but about the importance of planning the future of the country.

Director of Censuses, Demo-graphic and Social Statistics at STATIN, Valerie Nam noted that co-operation by the public "was not what we wanted it to be" during the last national census in 1991, but said several steps were being taken to encourage greater co-operation.

She noted, for example, that the questionnaire used in the 1991 exercise was too long and that many residents found it too time-consuming in responding. This year's census will involve a short and long version of the questionnaire, with the long version being administered to only 10 per cent of residents in the over 5,000 enumeration districts.

Mrs. Nam said care was also taken in the selection of census takers to ensure that political activists and others closely affiliated with political parties were excluded, since this might arouse suspicions about the objectives of the exercise and result in non-co-operation.

Marlon Richards, an art teacher at Kingston College who designed the winning logo for the census, was presented with his award during yesterday's launch.

Jamaica and Guyana are the only two Caribbean Community (CARICOM) states that are yet to complete national censuses under the 1995 to 2004 round of the United Nations Population and Housing Programme.

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