Population Census 2015 to be extended

CEBU, Philippines – The 2015 Census on Population is expected to be extended in the first or second week of October.

Noel Rafols, information officer of the Philippine Statistics Authority-7, said this is because many census enumerators have backed out.

“Ma-extend gyud either first or second week of October kay daghan mga enumerators ni-back out for various reasons. Hopefully first week or second week mahuman na gyud tanan,” Rafols said.

The 2015 PopCen started on August 10 and is supposed to end by second week of September. PSA-7 has hired 8,000 enumerators assigned in Central Visayas.

PSA-7 projected that the 100 million Filipino population in 2014 will increase to P102 million this year.

In 2014, Central Visayas has a population of 6.7 million and is expected to increase to 7 million this year. Cebu which has a current four million population is expected to increase by one million.

The 2015 Census of Population, which is a complete enumeration of households in the country, is designed primarily to take an inventory of the population of the entire Philippines.

The PopCen 2015 aims to provide government executives, policy makers and planners with population data, especially updated population counts of all barangays in the country, on which to base their social and economic development plans, policies and programs.

Among the uses of PopCen data includes redistricting and apportionment of congressional seats, allocation of resources and revenues, identification of sites for establishing businesses, improvement of supply of labor for the production of goods and services, conduct of researches on population and relates disciplines, among others.

This year’s PopCen will be the 14th census of population to be undertaken in the country since the first census in 1903. —/FPL (FREEMAN)