Demographic and Social Statistics

The United Nations Statistics Division, in partnership with UNICEF and UNFPA, has developed a free software package, CensusInfo, to help countries disseminate census data on CD-ROM and on the web. CensusInfo was officially launched at the 40th session of the Statistical Commission in February 2009 and is available on-line. The overall purpose of the UNSD Workshop, to be held in Bamako (Mali), is to develop participants’ capacities to use CensusInfo to its full potential as a platform for disseminating census data. The workshop has been designed using an outcome-based training methodology consisting of a series of demonstrations followed by practical exercises. The sessions include designing and creating templates and databases to house country-specific census data, learning various data administration utilities including data exchange to facilitate uploading of data into the CensusInfo system, and generating relevant tables, graphs, maps, reports and profiles for reporting purposes. The workshop will be conducted in French in AFRISTAT facilities in Bamako, Mali, from 30 November to 4 December 2009, and attended by French-speaking countries from Africa.

The purpose of the Workshop is to present international standards for processing population and housing censuses and to highlight the significant additional capabilities of contemporary technologies and their use for census data capture and data editing. More specifically, the Workshop will: (1) Present revised international standards for conducting population and housing censuses, focusing on recommended core topics as identified in the United Nations Principles and Recommendations Revision 2; (2) Discuss ways of improving the management and planning of the census, including outsourcing issues; (3) Present and discuss contemporary technologies in census data capture, including the use of Optical Mark Recognition (OMR), Optical Character Recognition/Intelligent Character Recognition (OCR/ICR), (4) Discuss the process stages for data capture, (5) Present an overview of major commercial suppliers for data capture; and (6) Present the principles and practices for census data coding and data editing. The workshop will also offer the possibility to the participants to present the experience of their countries in census data processing.

The United Nations Statistics Division is planning two back-to-back workshops on the Implementation of the United Nations Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses, Revision 2 for English speaking African countries in Maputo, Mozambique, 30 October - 2 November 2006 and for French speaking African countries in Bamako, Mali, 6-9 November 2006. These workshops are designed to reach three major goals: (a) introduce the revised set of principles and recommendations, including the recommended tabulations as a new international standard; (b) provide an opportunity for participants to discuss these standards and to assess their feasibility and implementation in national census practices, and (c) through national reports prepared for these workshops, produce a list of the most pressing issues that national authorities are facing in preparing and conducting population and housing censuses. This list, in turn, will allow UNSD the planning of future inter-regional, regional and sub-regional activities as part of the implementation of the 2010 World Programme on Population and Housing Censuses.