The 2020 World Population and Housing Census Programme was approved by the Statistical Commission at its 46th session and adopted by the United Nations Economic and Social Council in resolution E/RES/2015/10. The Programme recognizes population and housing censuses as one of the primary sources of data needed for formulating, implementing and monitoring policies and programmes aimed at inclusive socioeconomic development and environmental sustainability. It further recognizes population and housing censuses as an important source for supplying disaggregated data needed for the measurement of progress of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, especially in the context of assessing the situation of people by income, sex, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability and geographic location, or other characteristics.
The 2020 World Population and Housing Census Programme comprises a number of inter-related objectives and activities aimed at ensuring that:
- Member States conduct at least one population and housing census during the period from 2015 to 2024;
- Member States take into account international and regional recommendations relating to population and housing censuses and give particular attention to advance planning, cost efficiency, coverage and the timely dissemination of, and easy access to, census results;
- Member States set quality standards for the conduct and evaluation of population and housing censuses in order to uphold the integrity, reliability, accuracy and value of the population and housing census results;
- Full-fledged support is rendered to the Programme given its importance for sustainable development planning, especially in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;
- International statistical standards, methods and guidelines are prepared to facilitate the conduct of population and housing censuses;
- Activities among stakeholders are coordinated in assisting Member States to plan and carry out a census; and,
- Implementation of the Programme is monitored and regularly reported to the Statistical Commission.
The purpose of this website is to provide an online information resource on census taking and to present current information on national, regional and international activities related to the Programme.
The website presents international standards, methods and guidelines intended to assist national statistical offices and other producers of official statistics in planning and carrying out successful population and housing censuses. It further presents national documents related to different aspects of census taking during the current and previous census rounds. A major component of the website is the census knowledge base which is a repository of methodological reports and documents from countries. Given that new methodologies and contemporary technologies are being implemented by countries in the pursuit of reduced costs, improved quality and timely dissemination of census results, the census knowledge base facilitates the international exchange and sharing of knowledge and information on various aspects of census taking.
The content of the website includes an up-to-date account of national census taking activities and of the provision of support to countries in improving their statistical capacity in census taking. Furthermore, the website provides a summary account of monitoring and progress in the implementation of the 2020 World Programme.