Progression of the 2010 Census Round

Two hundred twenty two (222) countries or areas have scheduled or already conducted a census in the 2010 census round spanning the period 2005 to 2014. This also includes countries which base their detailed population statistics on population registers, administrative records, sample surveys or other sources or a combination of those sources. Of those 222 countries or areas, 76 have already conducted a census in this census round. Eleven countries or areas have not yet scheduled any census until 2014 (as of 1 November 2009; for a detailed table see here).

Figure 1 shows the overall temporal distribution of censuses over the period of the 2010 round and Figure 2 shows the same relationship broken down for the major regions. Note that dates of scheduled censuses may change and that countries or areas which have not yet scheduled a census may do so in the future or that countries will renounce their already scheduled census.

Fig. 1: Distribution of conducted and scheduled censuses over the period of the 2010 Census Round.

Fig. 2: Distribution of conducted and scheduled censuses over the period of the 2010 Census Round according to region (n.s. = not scheduled).

An estimated 1 452 660 883 persons have been enumerated in the 76 censuses conducted as of       1 November 2009 (this figure is based on the projected population for the year 2010 as estimated by the UN World Population Prospect Revision 2008, Medium Variant). At the end of the first year of the 2010 census round, 2005, an estimated population of 5% was enumerated (see Fig. 3). At the end of 2009 24% of the world population will have been enumerated. The single year with the highest number of persons enumerated will be 2010, when 63 countries or areas with a population of more than 2 900 million (42% of the world population) are scheduled to conduct a census. At the end of the census round in 2014, 98.1% of the world population will have been enumerated (based on the current census schedule).

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