Population census: Mapping of 48,000 census blocks completed

This covers 31.5% of the total 144,000 enumeration blocks in the country.

ISLAMABAD:

In a step essential for holding the long overdue population census, the national data collection agency has upgraded nearly one-third of all enumeration blocks, as political parties gear up to pressure the government into holding a census.

Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), responsible for all data collection by the government, has so far upgraded 48,000 enumeration blocks in urban areas of the country, according to Asif Bajwa, Chief Statistician of the PBS.

Giving details of the enumeration block upgrade in a meeting of the Governing Council of the PBS, which is headed by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Bajwa said that work of marking boundaries of 48,000 urban area blocks has been completed, which cover 31.5% of the total 144,000 enumeration blocks in the country.

In the second phase, the PBS will go to the rural areas of the country. In addition to upgrading geographical locations, the PBS has digitized the date of these blocks.

Bajwa also revealed that the last population census was held in 1998 and the next was due in 2008, however, the previous government was unable to hold the population survey despite having completed a housing census across the country.

Earlier, the results of the housing census had become controversial after it revealed that the projected population of Punjab had decreased while that of Sindh had increased.

The controversy arose because the population census is the base for division of economic and natural resources between provinces. Similarly, the census also impacts the number of seats allocated to each province in parliament and provincial assemblies respectively, provided that the population in a given constituency swells significantly.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 10^th, 2013.