Pakistan 6th Population and Housing Census

6^Th Population And Housing Census-2011 Commemorative Postage Stamp February 10, 2011:- Population Census Organization an attached department of the Statistics Division conducts the Population and Housing Census in the country after 10 years and provide reliable, fair, and timely data for development programmes and its use by the general public, planners, researchers, data relates users as all well as stakeholders. This data is also used for delineation of National and Provincial Assemblies, distribution of national resources among provinces through National Finance Commission (NFC) Awards as well as fixing of quota of posts in Federal Government Departments. Conducting the Population and Housing Census in the country is constitutional requirement of the Pakistan and it is a very important activity. Population and Housing Census is a stock taking of human resources of a country and their living condition at one point of time. Census provides basic data on demographic, social and economic variables about each person and each housing unit. The census data serves as bench mark for all socio-economic development plans, administrative activities, demographic research and projection of population to meet future needs. Census is a Gigantic and Complex Operation carried out in the whole territory of Pakistan comprising of five provinces i.e Punjab, Sindh, Khyber PakhtunKhwa, Blaochistan and Gilgit Baltistan as well as special areas like Federally / Provincially Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA/PATA), Azad Jammu & Kashmir and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). The Population census Organization has conducted five censuses in the country since its creation i.e in 1951, 1961, 1972, 1981 and the last census in 1998. The 6^th Population and Housing Census was scheduled in 2008 which was delayed due to insurgency, law and order situation in FATA and some parts of two provinces. Matter regarding conduct of census in the year 2009 and 2010 but it could not be conducted due to non availability of armed forces and devastating floods in the country.

2. The matter was again referred to the Council of Common Interests which in its meeting held on 8^th November, 2010 under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister of Pakistan has approved holding of 6^th Population and Housing Census in the country in two phase’s i.e House Listing Operation in March/April 2011 and Population and Housing Census in August/September, 2011. In this connection the Population Census Organization has undertaken the preparatory work as per activity calendar showing all aspects of census taking along with time frame fixed for each activity.

3. The Population Census Organization has developed Form-1 for house listing operation, Form-2 (short form) for main census and Form-2A (long form) will be used to obtain additional information on the field of education, migration, labour force, fertility, disability etc from sample households.

4. Draft tabulation plan showing the set of tables to be presented in the National, Provincial and District census report has been prepared.

5. The field staff for conducting the Housing Listing Operation comprising enumerators, supervisors, charge supervisors, charge superintends has been appointed through out the country. These staff has been drawn from the nation building Departments i.e Education, Local Government, Revenue Department etc. The training to these staff will be imparted by the experienced trainers to update them to achieve accurate and reliable results. After conducting house listing operation, the staff from the same departments will also be drawn for main census also they will be imparted training for conducting the Population and Housing Census.

6. In order to ensure complete coverage and for effective supervision, the entire country has been delimited into a four tire system i.e census district, census charges, census circle and census block. The maps of these areas have been prepared to be handed over to enumerators during the census operation. The moping work i.e updating of map of urban areas and rural areas, delimitation of census areas and their Geo-Coding etc have been completed through field visit. In this connection the Population Census Organization has established the GIS Lab at PCO Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, RCO/Multan and Muzaffarabad for digitizing of maps and their verification through satellite images (Google Earth).

7. An effective publicity plan has been prepared which will be launched through electronic and print media to create awareness among the masses about the importance of the census, to educate the people for their greater participation and to motivate the field staff to work with the dedication zeal and vigor.

8. Population Census Organization has decided to use modern technology to conduct the next census in a fair and transparent manner. Intelligence Character Recognition (ICR) technology for data entry/processing and GIS for dissemination of data will be used to achieve better results.

9. After Data Processing work, the census data will be tabulated and disseminated in the forms of reports at national, provincial and district level. The data users, planners, researchers and stakeholders etc. Population Census Organization has developed its own website which gives basic information about Population Census Organization and data of 1998 census. The website is updated regularly. (www.census.gov.pk)

To Commemorate 6^th Population and Housing Census-2011, Pakistan Post is issuing a Commemorative Postage Stamp of Rs.10/= denomination on February 10, 2011.