Take time to answer the census questions and give truthful information. The information will not only update the country’s total population, it will also guide the making of government policies to enhance services needed by specific groups.
President Marcos has urged the people to “provide truthful information” in the 2024 Population Census and Community-based Monitoring System (POPCEN-CBMS) which will be conducted from July to September 2024.
The POPCEN-CBMS is a nationwide program that “involves the collection, compilation, evaluation, analysis, publication, and dissemination of data on population count, demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the population, housing statistics, and other relevant data from the barangay level up to the regional scope.” For this year, it will also update the list of beneficiaries of the government’s social protection programs.
To support the POPCEN-CBMS, President Marcos has declared July 2024 as “National Census and Community-based Monitoring System Month.”
The declaration of this month’s observance on July 11 coincided with the United Nation’s celebration of World Population Day whose theme – Leave No One Behind, Count Them – highlights the importance of the census activity.
According to the UN, the advances in data gathering technology have collected information that “significantly enhanced the delivery of health care globally, leading to substantial improvements in sexual and reproductive health and the ability to exercise rights and choices. Increasingly, new technologies are enabling more detailed and timely measurement of people's experiences than ever before.”
"As the theme of this year’s World Population Day reminds us, investing in data collection is important to understanding problems, tailoring solutions, and driving progress,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said.
Since data collection involves the participation of the people, the President’s timely reminder to give truthful information should encourage people to welcome the census takers and give time to answer the questions.
According to Proclamation No. 627: "All citizens and residents of the Philippines are encouraged to cooperate with the PSA and its census enumerators in the conduct of the 2024 POPCEN-CBMS, by providing truthful and complete information in response to census questions, subject to existing laws, rules, and regulations.”
Leading the observance is the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), through the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA),
The nationwide census is required by Executive Order (EO) No. 352 (s. 1996); and the POPCEN is conducted every 10 years, while the mid-decade POPCEN every five years.
In 2020, the Census of Population and Housing was scheduled to be conducted in May but was delayed and started on Sept. 1 because of the lockdown due to the Covid pandemic. Despite the difficult circumstances, the census was completed with the staff following health and safety protocols, even leaving the questionnaire behind to be collected the next day to avoid long face-to-face meetings.
The 2020 census listed the population of the Philippines as May 2020 is 109,035,343, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority. The agency’s projection for population count in 2055 is around 138.67 million based on several birth rate scenarios.
As the UN urges, “World Population Day 2024 is a moment to ask who is still going uncounted and why – and what this cost individuals, societies, and our global efforts to leave no one behind.”
People should be reminded that refusing to answer the census questions will create the “uncounted sector” whose needs will not be known to government.
Let us welcome the census staff when they come knocking on our doors starting July 15.