Abstract

The 2008 Sudan Population and Housing Census is the 5th Sudan Population and Housing Census conducted, and one of the most important censuses in the history of Sudan. It is based on the comprehensive peace agreement. It provides hope for Sudanese people to build a new Sudan, with a fair share in power, resources, services and development. To achieve these goals a population census with a high accuracy and a full coverage is a necessity.

Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS)-International is an effort to inventory, preserve, harmonize, and disseminate census microdata from around the world. The project has collected the world's largest archive of publicly available census samples. The data are coded and documented consistently across countries and over time to facillitate comparative research. IPUMS-International makes these data available to qualified researchers free of charge through a web dissemination system.

The IPUMS project is a collaboration of the Minnesota Population Center, National Statistical Offices, and international data archives. Major funding is provided by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Demographic and Behavioral Sciences Branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Additional support is provided by the University of Minnesota Office of the Vice President for Research, the Minnesota Population Center, and Sun Microsystems.

Geographic coverage

National

Analysis unit

• Households;
• Individual.

Universe

The de facto method is applied for the enumeration of the population.

Kind of data

Census/enumeration data [cen]

Sampling procedure

The sample size (person records) is equal to 5'066'530.

Sampling deviation

Long form questionnaire for sedentary households (selected enumeration areas) and a sample of nomad households.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

As mentioned above the census data is to be collected in two forms. A short form to be used for 90% of EAs with a minimum number of questions ( 11 questions ) and to satisfy the basic population data needed for the election and other basic demographic needs. A long form to be administered in10% of the enumeration areas (EAS) and will provide all other standard social and economic information. The details of these questionnaires are following closely the UN principles and recommendations for censuses as decided by the TWG. That had put sometimes the TWG in conflicts with the governing councils and politicians at the national and regional levels. For e.g. the MOC had requested the deletion of the questions on ethnicity after its endorsement by the PCC in its second meeting. The PCC decided to raise it to the Presidency as the TWG had reconfirmed its technical importance. Based on the understanding that ethnicity and religion are causes of conflicts in Sudan, the Presidency decided to delete these questions. It was suggested as a compromise to use the question on previous residence to give information about Southern people living in the North. The South Sudan Population Census Council (SSPCC) requested an amplification of the question to reflect household origin from the nine 1956 Provinces (Northern, Khartoum, Central, Eastern, Kordofan, Darfur, Upper Nile, Bahr Elghazal and Equatoria) in stead of (north/south). But that was not accepted by many members of the PCC and some politicians in the north who believe that it is another way of bringing back the ethnicity question. The SSPCC then insisted on the re-inclusion of the ethnicity and religion questions. That led to a lot of delays in printing the questionnaires. In order to get out of this dilemma the TWG with support of UNFPA had decided to stick firmly to the UN standards. That is to stick to the previous residence question (origin) which is core one and to neglect the ethnicity question which is an optional one.

Cleaning operations

For census data entry the Technical Working Group (TWG) decided with endorsement of the PCC that the data entry was to be decentralized. Nine centers were suggested. These are the capitals of old British provinces. The TWG also decided that the short and long forms to be scanned using optical mark recognition (OMR) technology. That decision was based on the field visits to some African countries which used the same technology in their censuses. For quality assurance a high level team from both CBS and SSCCSE were sent to DRS Company in UK to ensure that the forms were correctly printed in both Arabic and English so as to avoid occurrence of any errors or faults during enumeration and the scanning process. It was decided that the census data was to be processed, the results produced and the tabulation prepared centrally. The national and regional tabulation to be analyzed and published using different data dissemination methods such as:-printed reports, electronic media (websites, Emails), data archiving, seminars and workshops. The use of internet as another tool for data dissemination was also suggested.

Abstract

The 2008 Sudan Population and Housing Census is the 5th Sudan Population and Housing Census conducted, and one of the most important censuses in the history of Sudan. It is based on the comprehensive peace agreement. It provides hope for Sudanese people to build a new Sudan, with a fair share in power, resources, services and development. To achieve these goals a population census with a high accuracy and a full coverage is a necessity.

Geographic coverage

National

Analysis unit

• Households;
• Individual.

Universe

The de facto method is applied for the enumeration of the population.

Kind of data

Census/enumeration data [cen]

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

As mentioned above the census data is to be collected in two forms. A short form to be used for 90% of EAs with a minimum number of questions ( 11 questions ) and to satisfy the basic population data needed for the election and other basic demographic needs. A long form to be administered in10% of the enumeration areas (EAS) and will provide all other standard social and economic information. The details of these questionnaires are following closely the UN principles and recommendations for censuses as decided by the TWG. That had put sometimes the TWG in conflicts with the governing councils and politicians at the national and regional levels. For e.g. the MOC had requested the deletion of the questions on ethnicity after its endorsement by the PCC in its second meeting. The PCC decided to raise it to the Presidency as the TWG had reconfirmed its technical importance. Based on the understanding that ethnicity and religion are causes of conflicts in Sudan, the Presidency decided to delete these questions. It was suggested as a compromise to use the question on previous residence to give information about Southern people living in the North. The South Sudan Population Census Council (SSPCC) requested an amplification of the question to reflect household origin from the nine 1956 Provinces (Northern, Khartoum, Central, Eastern, Kordofan, Darfur, Upper Nile, Bahr Elghazal and Equatoria) in stead of (north/south). But that was not accepted by many members of the PCC and some politicians in the north who believe that it is another way of bringing back the ethnicity question. The SSPCC then insisted on the re-inclusion of the ethnicity and religion questions. That led to a lot of delays in printing the questionnaires. In order to get out of this dilemma the TWG with support of UNFPA had decided to stick firmly to the UN standards. That is to stick to the previous residence question (origin) which is core one and to neglect the ethnicity question which is an optional one.

Cleaning operations

For census data entry the Technical Working Group (TWG) decided with endorsement of the PCC that the data entry was to be decentralized. Nine centers were suggested. These are the capitals of old British provinces. The TWG also decided that the short and long forms to be scanned using optical mark recognition (OMR) technology. That decision was based on the field visits to some African countries which used the same technology in their censuses. For quality assurance a high level team from both CBS and SSCCSE were sent to DRS Company in UK to ensure that the forms were correctly printed in both Arabic and English so as to avoid occurrence of any errors or faults during enumeration and the scanning process. It was decided that the census data was to be processed, the results produced and the tabulation prepared centrally. The national and regional tabulation to be analyzed and published using different data dissemination methods such as:-printed reports, electronic media (websites, Emails), data archiving, seminars and workshops. The use of internet as another tool for data dissemination was also suggested.