Fifteenth Population and Housing Census to be digitized

It has been estimated that Rs. 2,840 million will be spent for the population and housing census proposed to be conducted this year and in 2024.

Director General of the Department of Census and Statistics P.M.P. Anura Kumara said that the 15th ‘Population and Housing Census of Sri Lanka’ is planned to be conducted in four phases and the work of the preliminary phase has already been completed.

The Director General disclosed this at a media conference yesterday (26) at the Census and Statistics Department at Battaramulla.

Kumara said that it has been planned to make maximum use of IT facilities for this year’s census to ensure accuracy and quality and to minimize cost.

“We have obtained the necessary facilities to collect the information for this census through digitization. We have produced special software for this task. Fourteen-thousand well-trained officers will be given tabs to go to every household and get the population and house information,” he said.

The census is to be conducted in four stages – mapping, listing, enumeration and data dissemination. Listing of all houses and buildings in the second phase will begin in September, he added.

Additional Director General of the Department of Census and Statistics Anuja Seneviratne said that the services of 16,000 Government officials will be employed for the census.