Abstract

A census gives a complete and comprehensive picture of the nation as well as groups of people living in specific areas. In what type of buildings and housing units are we living? What are the amenities and facilities that are available therein? How many rooms are there and what is the extent of overcrowding? How many people live in a given town or locality? How many children are there? How many women are there? How many are old enough to vote? What kind of jobs are we doing? What is our level of education? Do we have the required qualifications or skills to satisfy the needs of the labour market? The census helps to answer these questions and many others.

It provides up-to-date and disaggregated data on the housing conditions, the spatial distribution, and the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the population. These data are essential for assessing the country's demographic, social and economic performance and for developing sound policies and programmes aimed at fostering the welfare of the country and its population.

Census data are also useful to business, industrial and commercial organisations to estimate and forecast demand for their products and services, and to assess the supply of manpower with the relevant skills to run their activities.

Furthermore, census data are used in the derivation of many important and meaningful social indicators that are needed by local and international organizations. Thus, many social indicators, as defined in the set of indicators recommended by the United Nations Statistics Division, can only be worked out from census data.

Legal framework Census 2000 was conducted according to provisions of the Statistics Act of 7 April 1951. The underlying procedures are given in Sections 5, 6 and 13 of the Act. In March 1998, the Cabinet agreed to the conduct of a housing and population census in year 2000. In June 1999, it gave its approval to the census dates and to the topics to be investigated. The regulations for the Housing Census, prescribing the particulars and information to be collected, were subsequently prepared and approved by the President in November 1999. The regulations were published as Government Notice 170 of 1999. In December 1999, the President made an order to the effect that a census of the population be taken between 19 June and 16 July 2000 in respect of all persons alive at midnight on 2 July 2000. The Order was gazetted in December 1999. The regulations for the Population Census, prescribing the particulars and information to be collected were approved by the President in April 2000 and published as Government Notice 57 of 2000.

Geographic coverage

Housing and population enumerations were conducted on the Islands of Mauritius, Rodrigues and Agalega. As regards St Brandon islands, only a count of persons spending census night on the islands was made, these islands being fishing stations with no resident population.

Analysis unit

• Household
• Individual
• Housing unit

Universe

The Housing Census enumerated all buildings, housing units, households, commercial and industrial establishments, hotels and boarding houses as well as fruit trees of bearing age on residential premises.

The Population Census enumerated all persons present on census night in all households and communal establishments, as well as usual residents who were away on census night.

Kind of data

Census/enumeration data [cen]

Mode of data collection

Self administered and face to face

Research instrument

Questionnaire Design Consultation with stakeholders from Government Ministries and Departments started in 1998. Heads of Government Ministries and Departments were invited via a circular letter to submit a list of demographic, social and economic data they considered essential for administration, planning and policy-making and which could be collected at the census. The proposals received were discussed at various levels. In the light of these discussions and taking into account recommendations of the United Nations Statistics Division on subject matters that can be investigated at a census, final selection of topics was made at a meeting with subject matter specialists from our parent Ministry.

The main considerations in the final selection of topics were: - the importance of the topics to the country - the cost for collecting and processing data on a given item - where it was possible by other means to obtain satisfactory information more cheaply, the topic was not selected - the suitability of topics - sensitive and controversial issues as well as questions that were too complicated or difficult for the average respondent to answer were avoided - whether the census was the appropriate method for data collection - topics that required detailed investigation or highly qualified staff were not included since they would be best canvassed by sample surveys.

Housing Census Questionnaire All topics investigated at the 1990 Census were included in the 2000 Housing Census questionnaire. Three new items were however added. These were: “Availability of domestic water tank/reservoir”, “Principal fuel used in bathroom” and “Fruit trees on premises”.

The housing census questionnaire was divided into seven parts. A list of topics and items included in the questionnaire is given below: Part I - Location Part II - Type of Building Part III - Characteristics of buildings - Storeys above ground floor
- Year of completion
- Principal material of construction used for roof and walls
Part IV - Characteristics of housing units - Ownership
- Occupancy
- Water supply
- Domestic water tank/reservoir - Availability of electricity
- Toilet facilities
- Bathing facilities
- Availability of kitchen - Refuse disposal Part V - Characteristics of households - Household type - Name and address of head of household - Number of persons by sex - Tenure - Number of rooms for living purposes - Number of rooms for business or profession - Monthly rent - Principal fuel used for cooking - Principal fuel used in bathroom Part VI - Commercial and industrial establishments, hotels and boarding houses - Name and address of establishment or working proprietor/manager - Main activity in which the establishment is engaged - Number of persons engaged at the time of enumeration Part VII - Fruit-trees on premises - Number of fruit trees of bearing age by type

Population Census Questionnaire The 2000 Population Census questionnaire covered most of the topics investigated at the 1990 Population Census. A question on income was added while the questions on education were reviewed to include qualifications, other than those of the primary and secondary levels, of the respondent. The topic, main activity status of person during the year, which was investigated at the previous census was not included.

Topics and items included in the population census questionnaire are given below: (i) Location (ii) Names of persons These information were asked only to ensure that all members of the household were enumerated. Also, the listing of names of each person facilitated the checking for accuracy and completeness of each entry at the time of enumeration and later, if errors or missing information still persisted on the form. It should be pointed out that names were not captured at the data entry stage, so that data collected could not be identified with any individual person, in line with the requirements of the Statistics Act. (iii) Demographic and social characteristics - Relationship to head (only one head is allowed for each household) - Sex - Age - Date of birth (This question served as a verification to the age reported earlier) - Citizenship - Marital Status - Religion - Linguistic group - Language usually spoken (iv) Whether disabled or not - Type of disability, if disabled (v) Migration characteristics - Whereabouts on Census night - Usual address - Usual address five years ago (vi) Fertility - For persons not single: - Age at first marriage - Whether married more than once - Number of children ever born (for women only) (vii) Education characteristics - For persons 2 years and above: - Languages read and written - School attendance - Primary and secondary education (viii) Current economic characteristics (ix) Income

Census Guide and Instructions A census guide and instructions booklet was prepared and distributed to all heads of households. The booklet contained extensive explanations on how to fill in the census form and answered questions that people usually asked about censuses. Thus the objectives of the census, what happened to the census forms once the enumeration was over, the confidential aspect of collected information as well as the usefulness of each item were explained.

Printing of Census Questionnaires and Guides
The census questionnaires, and the census guide and instructions booklets were printed by the Government Printer. The numbers printed were as follows: (i) Housing Census questionnaires - 16,000 booklets of 25 questionnaires (ii) Population Census questionnaires - 375,000 (iii) Census guide and instructions booklets - 312,000

Cleaning operations

Recruitment and Training of Editors and Coders About 15 clerical officers who were previously engaged in the various units of the Office and 10 newly recruited statistical officers were called on to the editing and coding of the census forms while a request for the services of 50 additional clerical officers was made to the Ministry for Civil Service Affairs and Administrative Reform. Between March 2000 and May 2001, small groups of clerical officers from the ministry joined the

Abstract

Department of Census and Statistics conducted the Economic Census (EC) which is nationally significant based on year 2013/14 for the first time in Sri Lanka. The Economic Census - Agricultural Activities (EC-AA) is a combination of Census of Industries and the Census of Agriculture held subsequently to the Census of Population and Housing. During the enumeration of main sectors of the economy such as Agriculture, Industries, Trade and services, data collection from the Agricultural sector was performed separately by using multiple questionnaires. Therefore, Economic census consists of 2 sections namely as, Enumeration of agricultural activities and Enumeration of industry, trade and services.

The Economic Census – Agricultural Activities 2013/14 was carried out primarily to meet the national needs whilst at the same time confirming to the requirements of the 2010 series world Census of Agriculture Program of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

The main objectives were;

i. To collect basic data on structure of agriculture needed for the formulation and implementation of agricultural development projects.

ii. To establish benchmark data against which the progress of agricultural projects can be evaluated.

iii. To provide basic frames of households, agricultural households and holding for conducting future surveys in the field of agriculture.

Geographic coverage

National coverage

Analysis unit

Households

Universe

The statistical unit was the agricultural holding, which consists of all land and/or livestock used wholly or partly for agricultural production, which is operated under one operational status, regardless of land ownership or type of tenure; the land can consist of one or more parcels, which can be located in one Divisional Secretary's Division or can be spread across various Divisional Secretary's Divisions. The statistical units covered by the census were distributed according to the following two sectors: (i) the "estate" or large holding sector; and (ii) the small holding sector (SHS). An agricultural holding with the same tenure having at least 20 acres (8.09 ha) of land is considered an "estate". SHS holdings were classified into two groups, namely:

· "marginal holdings" - holdings operating less than or equal to 40 perches (0.10 ha), having some form of cultivation, rearing livestock or aquaculture, and the production of which is mainly for home consumption; and · "economically viable holdings" - holdings operating more than 40 perches (0.10 ha) or producing agricultural output, mainly for marketing. From this category, information was collected through the Small Holding 2 Form (SH-2).

Kind of data

Census/enumeration data [cen]

Sampling procedure

The EC-AA was conducted in two stages:

· Stage 1: listing of estates (conducted in 2013, form El)

· Stage 2: this included the following activities and was undertaken in the third quarter of 2014: (i) data collection from estates (form E2);

(ii) listing of small holdings (using SH1); (iii) data collection from small holdings (using SH2).

As part of the EC-AA 2013/2014 programme, a community survey and a survey on household food security were carried out. The information provided by the Population and Housing Census 2011 was used as a basis to identify small agricultural holdings. A complete enumeration was carried out to list all small holdings (using the listing form SH1 for each "census block" of a Grama Niladhari, or GN). To elaborate the list for the estates, a separate listing activity was carried out by GN (using Form El for each census block of a GN). Complete enumeration was applied to collect the data from the agricultural holdings (using census questionnaires E2 and SH2; see the "Questionnaires" subsection below). Sampling was applied for the food security survey.

Two-stage stratified sampling was used to collect data for the food security survey. The sample size was 28 000 households (or 1.2 percent of the total number of households).

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The questionnaire of the Economic Census - Agricultural Activities 2013/14 questionnaire on household food security collected information on:

Section 1: Availability of food Section 2: Household food insecurity access Section 3: Strategies to overcome food shortage Section 4: Further expectations relating to food Section 5: Keeping basic foodstock Section 6: Home gardening Section 7: Shocks and hazards

The questionnaire is available as additional material in the documentation tab.

Cleaning operations

Data Processing

Data processing activities of the Census was carried out in two phases. In order to disseminate an important data needed by users, based on summary sheets that were prepared by Enumerators were processed in the first phase just after the census proper. In this stage the DCS had designed relevant tabulation programs and centralized the activities in the Head Office. This includes data entry activities and tabulation of the summary sheets. One officer from Agriculture and Environmental Statistics Division was appointed in each district and was trained for data entry work and tabulations. This procedure was completed by early part of the year 2015 and the preliminary report was published in the means of hard copies and electronic media by including the Departmental Website. Then the next phase was data capturing and processing of nearly 2.3 million main schedules (SH 2) in the Small Holding Sector and also information collected through E 2 pertaining to 7,447 Estates. The questionnaires related to Estates were scanned, edited, coded and then tabulated with the assistance of ICT division and by the staff of the Agriculture and Environmental Statistics Division of DCS. The questionnaire SH 2 related to the Small Holding Sector was designed with a view to data capture through the means of optical card reader (scanner). At that time DCS was in possession of “Avision AV320D2+” scanners with single user form processing software. This scanner's duty cycle was rated 9,600 pages per day. A team of error editors had deployed for editing of SH2, and to perform some validity checks manually after the data capturing process.

Data appraisal

The census questionnaires were scanned and then the census data processed and tabulated by the staff of the Agriculture and Environmental Statistics Division of the DCS, with the assistance of the Information and Communication Technology Division. A pre-test and a pilot census were conducted to test all census tools.