24 November : National Census date
A crowd at the Lawson Tama Football Stadium in Honiara June 2017. Photo: RNZI/ Koroi Hawkins
The National Government (SIG) through its statistical agency, National Statistics -Census Office has announced that the 2019 National Population and Housing Census will be conducted on the 24th of November this year.
The announcement was made by Prime Minister honorable Manasseh Sogavare at the launching ceremony held at the Kitano Mendana Hotel in Honiara today.
This is the fourth census survey since independence in 1978, and will adopt a dual enumeration process called a ‘de factor’ enumeration, which means people will be counted wherever they happened to be on the census night.
Prime Minister Sogavare says he’s confident of a successful census, as the data collected would assist the government in it’s planning and decision making.
“The high-quality data we hope to derive from the 2019 population Census will assist the government, In policy analysis, planning, decision-making, and monitoring of the county’s development progress especially in informing our current policies such as the National Development Strategy (NDS), Medium-Term Development Strategy (MTDS), National Population Policy, and our Fiscal and Monetary policies,” he said.
“Meet our international obligations and development partner country strategies such as monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),Facilitate the updating of our constituencies and boundaries in preparation for next national and provincial elections of Solomon Islands ,Provide an updated sampling frame required for ‘sample-based household surveys’ such as the coming Household Income and Expenditure Survey planned for 2021/2022.”
Meanwhile, Census Commissioner Mr Douglas Kimi says the Census will cost over $80 Million dollars and that his office is in a state or readiness to undertake the census counting.
He said the national populationis expected to reach over 700,000 by the end of this year, and more changes is expected in the provincial and ward level population sizes.
“NSO has recruited 8 census district superintendent, 43 area managers, census project staff, and we will begin the roll out of procurement of supplies, media advocacy campaigns , and prepare to recruit enumerators and supervisors,” he said.
By: Lowen Sei.