Directors of Statistics and other stakeholders in the field have made recommendations to create a more efficient process for the conduct of censuses.

The recommendations to improve the mammoth undertaking – a complete count of the population - include initiating the planning process earlier; shortening the census questionnaire and employing different modes of enumeration such as self-enumeration through computer-assisted, web interviewing techniques; and ensuring robust public relations campaigns are executed.

The recommendations will be useful to inform the Common Regional Census Strategy for the upcoming 2030 Round of Population and Housing Censuses.

The stakeholders made the valuable interventions during a one-day Census Symposium held in Placencia, Belize, on 5 November. Participants at the nine-panel symposium shared their experiences with the 2020 Round of Population and Housing Census, best practices and challenges related to conducting the exercise at the height of disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and, in some cases, during elections.

"Based on the standards that we have established, it is not wise to do a Census in an election year. A Census is a massive peace-time undertaking so you'd want to do it in a 'normal year'," Mr. Halim Brizan, Director, Regional Statistics at the CARICOM Secretariat said in an interview.

The symposium was one of several statistics-related activities that were held in Belize and the second activity of the CARICOM Year of Statistics. The first was the Fourth High-Level Advocacy Forum on Statistics.