Demographic and Social Statistics

The United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), in collaboration with the Instituto Nacional de Estatística of Mozambique, is organizing a Regional Workshop on CensusInfo in the context of the 2010 World Programme for Population and Housing Censuses. The Workshop will take place from 10-13 November 2009 in Maputo, Mozambique.

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 offers specific functionalities to enhance census data dissemination, including a user-friendly interface, template reports for presentation of data at any geographical level, as well as graphing and mapping facilities. CensusInfo can be customized, in terms of the graphical layout, the list of statistics/indicators and geographical levels for data presentation. 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 Workshop 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 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.