Bhutan’s second population and housing census, which will be conducted over three days beginning May 30, will see deployment of around 9,600 civil servants as supervisors and enumerators.
The National Statistical Bureau (NSB), which is overseeing the conduct of the census, says final preparations are underway. “At the moment, the training of trainers is going on. All trainers are NSB officials and they will, in a few days, leave for different training venues where they will train another 370 trainers from the Dzongkhags and Thromdes,” said Chhimi Tshering, NSB’s Census Commissioner.
He added these trainers will go back to their respective Dzongkhags and Thromdes to train supervisors and enumerators.
NSB officials are urging the public to render full support and cooperation and also to avoid travel during the census period. “I would like to request everybody to share accurate and clear answers to the questions because the information that we are going to collect through the census is going to be used for the formulation of national plans, polices and programmes,” said the Census Commissioner.
The population and housing census is not confined to collection of data on the number of people living in the country at a particular time irrespective of nationality. It also involves gathering demographic statistics and basic housing information on health, education, employment and language, among others.
The data and information gathered through the census is crucial for the country’s development planning. It also helps in assessing developmental goals.
NSB completed the pre-census activities last year. The activities included dividing villages and households into different local area plan and enumeration codes. The doors of every household have a listing sticker stuck on it.
The first Population and Housing Census of Bhutan (PHCB) was conducted in 2005.It recorded a population of 634,982 and 126,115 households.
The NSB is to conduct PHCB once every ten years. With the first PHCB conducted in 2005, the second was due in 2015 but lack of budget led to delays.
