Preliminary report misses deadline

The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics missed the date of publication of the preliminary report of the fifth national population and household census although it was supposed to be published three months after the census.

Planning Minister AK Khandker, while presiding over the 15th extraordinary meeting of the National Statistics Council on 26 August, 2010, said, 'Necessary steps will be taken to publish the preliminary report of the census within three months and the final report within 12 months.'

The census, which has been widely criticised for being hurried and not sufficiently thorough, began on March 15 and ended on March 19.

BBS's secretary Riti Ibrahim told New Age on Wednesday that within this month the preliminary report would be submitted 'informally' to the concerned ministry. A press release, which will contain the population, number of males and females and households only, will be sent to both the print and electronic media.

'We are committed to complete the report within this month. The final report will take a bit more time as it will include all the details,' Riti added.

The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics engaged 3.10 lakh enumerators to collect data about the citizens and the households. The five-day population census began with the counting of floating people a minute after midnight after March 14.

A digital enumeration map and computerised geo-coding system have been used for the first time in the census.

The first population census in the subcontinent was conducted in 1872. Since then censuses have been conducted almost regularly every 10 years. This year's census is the fifth since the country's independence.

After independence, population and household censuses were conducted in 1974, 1981, 1991 and 2001. According to the fourth census, the number of households was about 2.54 crore and the population was 12.43 crore.

Source : New Age

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