Thousands to be deployed to take Cuba census

Population census in Cuba to start in September 2012.

HAVANA, Cuba, Monday June 18, 2012 – Cuba is to confirm whether its estimate that its population has reached over 11 million people is correct when it stages its 18th annual in three months time.

According to national census director Juan Carlos Alfonso, the 2012 National Population and Housing Census will take place in Cuba from September 15 to 24, 2012.

According to Cuba’s National Statistics Office, the island’s population is estimated to have reached 11,241,161 inhabitants in 2010, with 5,628,996 men and 5,612,165 women on the Caribbean island. Projections for the year 2015 are for the total population to have reached 11,220,354, with 5,617,693 men and 5,602,661 women.

To date, 17 censuses have taken place in Cuba since 1774, with three of them during the revolutionary period. The latest census was carried out in 2002.

Alfonso explained during the Cuban Television primetime show “The Round Table” recently that preparations are well underway in terms of the technological support and the personnel to carry out the process.

First deputy Education minister Cira Piñera revealed that the ministry of education has provided 224 facilities to carry out the training of personnel for the census, while more than 59,000 students would take part in the collection of the information, and some 10,000 professors would supervise the process.

Alfonso said this process of major statistical research that required careful preparation to achieve high-quality results. He said the information to be collected would include the territorial distribution of the population, composition as to sex and age, educational level, the number of working people, the retired, the number of homes, access to utilities and important demographic indicators.

He said the results of the census would help design or update programs, plans and policies to be undertaken by the Cuban state.

All the information will be directly provided by the people through a questionnaire, said the official, who called on the population to give accurate and sincere answers, since cooperation in this effort was needed to guarantee reliable statistics were obtained, which were needed in order to allocate and plan resources and means for different activities of Cuban society.

The upcoming process is part of the 2010 Round of Censuses promoted by the United Nations, which includes all similar processes between 2005 and 2015. Other censuses will take place this year in Paraguay, Chile, Guatemala and Honduras. Click here to receive free news bulletins via email from Caribbean360. (View sample)