AFTER a four-month delay due to the pandemic, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said it will start conducting the census on Sept. 1, with results set to be published in the early second quarter of next year.
“Kami ay nakipag-coordinate sa mga local executives… kung may mga areas or households na medyo high risk, ito po ay aming iiwasan muna. Babalik na lamang ang aming mga enumerators kapag okay na, (We have held discussions with local executives… If there are areas or households that are deemed high risk, those will be avoided in the meantime. Our enumerators will get back to them once it is safe,” National Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa said during an online press briefing Thursday.
The census, according to Mr. Mapa, will run from Sept. 1-30. The census was originally scheduled for May 4 to June 1, but had to be delayed due to the pandemic.
PSA will report the results of the census, formally known as the Census of Population and Housing (CPH) in April or May next year, Mr. Mapa said.
Data collection will be carried out through face-to-face interviews; self-administered questionnaires; over the phone or paper-assisted telephone interviews; and computer-aided web interviews.
More than 100,000 enumerators and Census supervisors will conduct the census and will follow health and safety protocols by wearing face masks and observing physical distancing, among others. Census interviews are expected to take 15 to 30 minutes per household.
Among the data to be gathered are sex, age, marital status, education, religion, ethnicity, disability, occupation, and births and deaths. Information on the main sources of water, electricity, fuel resources, garbage disposal, toilet facility, ICT devices, vehicles, and internet access will also be collected.
The 2020 CPH is the 15th census of population and the seventh census of housing to be undertaken since the first one in 1903.
The last census was performed in 2015, showing a population of 100.98 million, against 92.34 million tallied in 2010.
The population was last estimated at 108.77 million as of July, according to the Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM), which issued its tally on Dec. 27, up 1.38% from a year earlier.
In the same report, POPCOM cited a moderating trend in population growth running for more than two decades. Growth is seen at 1.52% in the last half of the decade, against 1.73% between 2010 and 2015. — Jobo E. Hernandez
