THE upcoming census will begin on April 5 and will be completely digital, officials said yesterday.

“The digital format will not only transform how data is managed and analysed, but it is also changing the way data is collected,” officials said in a press release.

There will be three ways for individuals to complete the census questionnaire: online, by telephone and in person.

For the online census, there will be a questionnaire that individuals can complete from the comfort of their homes, anytime of the day, and at their leisure. This applies only to households where contact information was provided during the 2021 listing exercise.

Via telephone, census enumerators will administer the census questionnaire over the phone.

Finally, traditional in-person interviews also will be conducted.

Census workers will obtain all data collection using digital devices, which means all census data, no matter which collection method is used, will be directly uploaded, validated and processed in real-time by a robust software solution that was pioneered and co-financed by the World Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

The information provided for the Census is used for important planning and policy decisions in the government and in the private sector.

Census data helps to determine school zones, the location of housing developments, and helps the government to make decisions about the allocation of public resources.