CCI agrees to start population census in March 2017
The decision was taken in CCI meeting headed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - The Council of Common Interests (CCI) has agreed to begin Population Census on the 15th of March next year.
During a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Islamabad on Friday, the Council decided that house listing and census operation may be carried out in one go.
PM Nawaz held meeting with the chief ministers before chairing CCI meeting
The meeting also decided that the census may be held in two phases and each phase may be carried out in all the provinces simultaneously.
Moreover, the CCI agreed that census will be carried out in close coordination of provincial governments.
There will be a committee of secretary statistics and four chief secretaries to address all the implementation issues.
The last census was carried out in 1998 when the population was counted at 132 million people. It is since believed to have crossed the 200 million mark, an estimate based on figures from yearly growth statements issued by the country’s statistics bureau and survey work, making Pakistan the sixth most populous country in the world.
Pakistan was due to conduct a census in 2008 and 2010 but political unrest, conflict, and natural disasters contributed to delays.
The census is also a sensitive issue politically because it determines the amount of development budget allocated to each of the country’s provinces.
