Using both online and offline data collection methods, experts are already hailing the 2020 census as a "milestone" tool for better policymaking and public services.
tatistics Indonesia (BPS) is working toward releasing the results of the 2020 population census by the first quarter of 2021, while the research community and the government expect the census to set a new statistical milestone for the country.
The agency is currently processing and checking the data it has collected from February to early October, and which involved approximately 268 million Indonesians.
“We hope the data processing will run smoothly without hitting a snag, so we can release the census results by the first quarter of next year,” Nurma Midayanti, the BPS director for population and employment statistics, told The Jakarta Post.
The 2020 census is the country’s seventh decennial population census since its inception in 1961. The census is intended to illustrate Indonesia’s demographic condition, which can then be used to project the country’s future population scenarios for aspects such as fertility, mortality and migration.
This year marked the first time the national census was conducted both online and offline. It was also held in the middle of the COVID-19 health emergency.
Read also: Knock-knock: BPS to carry out door-to-door census despite pandemic
The BPS held the online census from February to May, which involved 51.36 million people, or around 19 percent of the Indonesian population. The agency then conducted door-to-door interviews from Sept. 1 to 30 to cover the remaining 81 percent of the population, following a two-month delay due to the outbreak.
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