The FSM Congress recently passed Public Law 21-131 appropriating $64.8 million for the operation of the branches of the national government, its agencies, various programs, grants, subsidies & contributions, and other purposes. Of this amount,$16 million is allocated for Capital and Human Resource Development of which $1.5 million is for the 2020 Population and Housing Census project.

The Census of Population and Housing is the largest statistical operation any Statistics Office undertakes. It is considered to be the “mother” of all data gathering activities, as it covers the entire population and gathered a wide variety of socio-economic data. It is the main official statistical source whereon policy formulation, decision-making, and plans for the 10 years following the census are based.

The 2020 FSM Census will be different from the previous censuses where a paper questionnaire was used to collect information. The upcoming census will be using computer tablets to collect the census information.

The Department of Resources and Development (FSMRD), the implementing agency of the project, had undertaken the following activities in preparation to the 2020 Census: (a) Census Planning Workshop (drafting of Census Operation Plan) in June 2018 and (b) Staff Training on CAPI (Use of tablets in data collection)in November2018.

The funding will be used to pay for contracting census field and office workers, acquire office equipments, shipping and handling, deployment of workers to the field, transportation, analysis and dissemination of census results and other incidental expenses.

A census page is being developed to provide updates on the project and will soon be available on the Statistics website. Check back soon for more information on the census.