Helping to gather accurate figures

The government has just announced that it will conduct a national census after a 10-year hiatus, a much-needed move in view of the population growth in the country.

The national population and housing census will be conducted by the Department of Statistics, an endeavour that will see over 25,000 employees mobilised and is expected to cost about JD14 million.

To be sure having accurate databases for all national activities — concerning schools, hospitals, housing or developmental plans — are not only basic but also absolutely necessary.

Governments, and even the private sector, cannot be expected to plan for the future without appropriate information regarding the population, and to that end, this year’s census is going to provide additional data related to migration, unemployment, disabilities and non-Jordanians, providing modern statistical frameworks in the fields of population, economy and agriculture.

The last census, conducted in 2004, put the Kingdom’s population at 5.1 million, a figure that the Department of Statistics believes has doubled now, if refugees and guest workers are added.

The disaggregated data can be put to use for better planning for the future.

The Department of Statistics chose November for conducting the census, considering that all Jordanians are in the country at this time.

The support and cooperation of the public are obviously needed to make this endeavour easy and accurate.

The information in the census will be classified; it will include just numbers, not names.

Its final results will be announced in February 2016 and are expected to provide accurate numbers needed for charting the country’s development path.