Jamaica’s national census is to be held in September

KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) will be commencing Jamaica’s 15th National Population and Housing Census in September.

According to STATIN’s Director-General, Carol Coy, the national census is carried out every ten years and should have been executed in 2021 but got pushed back by a year due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Census Day is September 12, which is the reference point for the census. So, we start collecting data on September 13, and who we will [count] is everybody belonging to their place of usual residence,” said Coy.

“We will be counting people in their homes, correctional institutions, children’s homes, infirmaries, boarding schools, universities, hotels, military camps, hospitals providing specialized care. We will also be counting persons living on the streets, quays, and so on,” she added.

The Director-General indicated that each individual in the household would get a questionnaire to detail age, sex, ethnic origin, marital status, education, physical and mental limitations, training, economic background, fertility, and transportation, among other requirements.

Additionally, she noted that information to be collected would also include the type of houses persons are living in, the material of the outer wall, roofing, number of rooms, the tenure of land, rent, waste disposal, and the source of water for domestic use as well as the availability and type of kitchen, bathroom and toilet facilities.

“For the first time in history, we will be using, rather than paper, tablet computers to capture the information that we will require. This allows, using the tablets, to monitor the quality of the work we are getting…and it makes the survey more efficient.”

“We will enable GPS to monitor what the persons [collectors] are doing, and once the data is collected, it is uploaded immediately to our server. So that helps in the security,” she added.

 Coy assured that a person’s personal information would be kept confidential under the Official Secrets Act.

“[However], the census data is used for policymaking, research, business, and industry. It helps to assess the housing quality in your parish [and] …education level. Census data is important for developing your community, parish, and country, and we want every living person in Jamaica to be counted,” she explained.