For the first time in its history, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) is going to start the project for population and household census 2022 in a digital system or Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) method.
Moreover, the latest Geographic Information System (GIS) method will be used in this census for the first time ever.
Meanwhile, 3.95 lakh tabs have been purchased for all such modern systems, but in the end, the cost has come down to Tk186.11 crore more than the primary estimated cost.
The estimated cost of the project was Tk1761.79 crore but now the revised cost is Tk 1575.86 crore.
Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid is expected to unveil the memorial stamp while Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will give a speech in this regard.
BBS will start conducting the population and housing census on June 15, which will end on July 21.
In his keynote paper presentation Md Dildar Hossain, project director, population and housing census, BBS said: “This sixth survey of the BBS will be weeklong and it will be conducted in digital format. Around 3.7 lakh numerators will collect the data countrywide.”
The chief guest of the program M A Mannan, Planning Minister said: “The most important thing for BBS is to do this census with the highest integrity. So, it is important to be accurate. Moreover, this time it is being done digitally. I believe it will be more reliable.”
Special guest Prof Shamsul Alam, state minister for planning in his speech said that: “Various data are required for various developmental works of the government. BBS continues to play an important role by providing those data regularly.”
Meanwhile, he hinted at bringing a reduction during the upcoming census.
"Based on this data, we want to calculate this census every five years, like in a developed country, not 10 years from now," he added.
After independence, the first census was held in 1974. The second census was conducted in 1981. The third, fourth and fifth census and household census of the country were conducted in 1991, 2001 and 2011 respectively following a period of ten years.
Although due to the Covid-19 epidemic, it was not possible to conduct the sixth census and household census in 2021 following a period of 10 years like many other countries of the world, the main census will be conducted on 15-21 June, later this year.