The fault in our Census: What went wrong in Pakistan's First ever Digital Census

 

Pakistan's first ever digital census was conducted by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) in  first quarter of 2023. 

Census is a survey or population count within a specific geographic area or country, usually conducted by a government authority. The primary purpose of a census is to gather detailed demographic, social, economic, and housing information about the population.

A census answers questions related to:

How many people live in the area? Their distribution of age group, gender, religion, race, ethnicity, marital status.

 

Individual's Income group, education, languages they speak, etc.

 

Individual's access to facilities like healthcare, internet, commute.

 

How many households are there, and what is their size and structure.

What went wrong in digital census of Pakistan.

- Wrong enumeration methodology:

There are two basic ways to conduct census: 

de juro: to count people at their place of residence

de facto: to count poeple at their location on the date of census 

In 2023 survey, de juro approach was used. unlike the earlier census which combined both approaches to count people either at their place of residence or where they were on that day, this year's census had many drawbacks. In a metropolitan city like Karachi, which attracts a substantial number of both permanent and seasonal migrants seeking work and education, many of whom lack official residency documentation, it appears that the de facto approach is better suited. This method would offer a more precise reflection of the population physically residing in the city during the census and for a significant part of the year.

- Irregular gender specific growth ratio:

Consider the population dynamics in Balochistan, with certain regions experiencing remarkable growth rates of 8% to 9%, primarily driven by an increase in the number of newborn boys. This calls for a thorough examination of the gender and age distribution to ensure its accuracy. It seems implausible, both from a human and biological perspective, that the male population has surged significantly more than the female population.

- Missed deadlines

Deadlines to complete census and announce its results were missed and recalculated at least 6 times, which makes the overall process and its results doubtful.

- Incomplete questionnaire:

Census 2023 questionnaire had many problems, which includes, wrong or incomplete questions, not being able to select multiple answers for a question where applicable, no question on domestic water usage, income sources, and other important areas.