Statistics bureau: Huge public support for census

Maldives Bureau of Statistics (MBS) on Thursday said that they’ve been receiving huge public support for the ongoing census work.

Census 2022 commenced on Tuesday, September 13. MBS has recruited over 4,000 enumerators for Census 2022, out of which around 2,000 enumerators are working in the greater Male’ area.

The last census, held in 2014, placed Maldives’ population at 402,071.

However, at the time due to the political climate, many did not cooperate with the data collection.

Speaking with Sun, media official from MBS said that the work is progressing at the speed they want it to, adding that they have been receiving full public cooperation.

Enumerators have begun their door-to-door work in all the islands of the country.

On Tuesday after Census officially began, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih visited Dharubaaruge, where the teams are based. While speaking to them, he noted the importance of this work.

Moreover, he said that the information gathered during the census would be instrumental in planning the country’s future, would facilitate developmental planning, and identify the most pressing social issues within communities.

He also noted that enumerators were performing an important but difficult task, and appealed to the public to support for the census.

“I call on everyone to treat this as a huge national endeavour, and provide your cooperation,” he said.

The data collected in Census 2022 includes the population of locals and expatriates on each island, the rate at which the population is growing, the age composition, and migration rates, as well as social and economic status.

Maldives held its first national census in 1911 and had a census every ten years until it was discontinued in 1931.