CENSUS DAY SET FOR MID MAY
A new population count will be done in the British Virgin Islands beginning mid April, it was announced here Tuesday. Census 2001 is being spearheaded by the government’s Development Planning Unit (DPU). “A census is an exercise that seeks to count everybody, it’s the most comprehensive set of data that any country can have to do planning,” explained Raymond Phillips, who was appointed Deputy Director of Planning for Statistics effective February 2nd. “It is aimed at getting information on the demographics and socio-economic situation of a country.” Censuses are conducted only every ten years because they are extensive and expensive, he told the Island Sun.
This exercise will be carried out in conjunction with a wider Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and Caribbean Community (CARICOM) programme. The OECS and CARICOM are providing technical assistance, in terms of planning and coordination. Unlike the last census where the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) bore the cost, the government of the Virgin Islands will spend some $50, 000 on this census. In addition to paying the wages of enumerators and supervisors, this money will go towards setting up an office equipped with computers, scanners and other equipment. Some 60 enumerators will be hired, 50 of whom will go from door to door in 50 different districts soliciting information from residents relating to housing, education, income, employment, fertility, marital status, nationality etc.
There will be ten supervisors. The enumerators and supervisors will go through a period of training before they are sent out into the field. “They will be introduced to the techniques of interviewing, how to handle irate people and they will also be familiarized with the questionnaires,” Mr. Phillips revealed. The enumeration will be done in the evenings and on weekends. It should take about half an hour to 45 minutes to complete a questionnaire, depending on the size of the household, the officials estimated. About 15, 000 questionnaires were prepared for the last census. This time, they have 25, 000. The process of enumeration is expected to take one month. Within one week of coming out of the field, a preliminary count of the population will be known. This is compared to two months with the manual count method used previously. “For the first time, and the BVI is the only country doing this, we will be using a computerized tabulation process, which will allow us to have running totals every day,” according to Mr. Otto O’Neal, Head of the DPU. The last census was done in 1991 and the population was put at just about 16,700 persons. That figure had grown from 11,000 in 1980.
Mr. Phillips told The Island Sun that population projections indicate that we should be looking at 21/22, 000 for this count. Some time ago, a specialist consultant visited the BVI to look at the mapping situation. Mr. O’Neal pointed out that a map has to be produced as a guide for the enumerators with every house in the territory. The census would aim to cover every dwelling place (including the prison, hotels and the hospital) on every island and also every yacht in the BVI during this period. “While there is really no way to ensure that everyone is enumerated, we feel that as long as we have our people well trained, we expect that they would do a good job,” the Deputy Director of Planning for Statistics told the Island Sun.
In the last census, there was a 3% undercount. According to the DPU officials, one of the difficulties they would face is not on land but with people moving around on sea. Another is with the Spanish speaking population. The latter challenge will be dealt with by having bilingual enumerators. In preparation for this exercise, Mr. Phillips has been attending several regional planning meetings. The first meeting of the Regional Census Coordinating Committee was held here in Tortola back in October, the second was in St. Lucia and he has just returned from a similar meeting in Trinidad and Tobago, which ran from March 6th to 8th. The DPU officials are soliciting the cooperation of the general public as this census is carried out. They moved to reassure the public that any information collected will be used solely for planning purposes and will be treated with the strictest confidence. “It’s nothing about anyone’s immigration status…it’s in everybody’s best interest to be enumerated, to give us some facts.” There is a law in the BVI that requires everyone to answer the questions on the questionnaire. This aspect of the Census Act has however not had to be enforced.
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