The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) has executed the 7th Population and Housing Census digitally for the first time in the country’s history, with census field operations commencing from March 1, 2023, and continuing until April 10, 2023, without any interruption.
The successful execution of the digital census is a great accomplishment and is a moment of great pride for the nation as it is the largest South Asian digital census to date. The overall progress of the census is very encouraging and satisfactory.
It is a great pleasure for the nation and a tremendous achievement that data from over 97% of listed households has been successfully collected to date through tablets across the country, and only less than 3% of census fieldwork is left, particularly in metropolitan cities of various provinces and other few cities of Balochistan.
The census fieldwork has been completed in over 99% of Punjab, 98% of Sindh, 90% of Islamabad, and 82% of Balochistan, while the census work has almost been completed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK).
The census work has been completed 100% in 131 districts out of 156 districts across the country, while 70% to 80% of census work is completed in the remaining 25 districts, and work is in progress. It is pertinent to mention that the work completion percentage may slightly increase after the synchronization of data from some completed blocks that fall in the offline zone. The completion of census work is over 97% across the country, a landmark achievement that will pave the way for a new era of prosperous Pakistan.
In order to complete the leftover census work and ensure complete coverage, details of the cities along with the additional time required to complete the remaining work were solicited from the provincial governments for extending the census operation on a customized basis only for those cities where census work is yet to be completed.
Accordingly, the Chief Census Commissioner has extended the date to complete the remaining census work to ensure 100% coverage by April 15, 2023, only for some metropolitan cities like Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Quetta, Gilgit, and Karachi, or as the Provincial Government of Sindh deems it appropriate. In addition to these big cities, the census date is also extended for 13 cities of Balochistan.
In case enumerators have not visited, citizens of Pakistan are being requested to inform PBS using the toll-free number 0800-57574, which will be functional 24/7. The citizen can also send their complete address through SMS on 9727 to lodge complaints of non-coverage.
They can also visit or contact PBS Regional Offices or the 495 Census Support Center established at the tehsil level to lodge their complaints regarding non-coverage. Simultaneously, the quality of data is being ensured through a Post Enumeration Survey by using Computer Assisted Telephonic Interview (CATI), and the respected citizens are urged to extend cooperation with our team to verify their data through randomly generated calls through CATI.
The citizens of Pakistan being the most important stakeholders and beneficiaries of the census are urged to ensure their full participation and cooperation with field staff visiting them and the call center officials who may call them for data verification for quality control, along with lodging complaints of non-coverage if any.
Participation in the census is not only our moral and legal obligation but also provides the opportunity for the government to develop evidence-based policy planning to ensure our rights and better service delivery at our doorstep.
PBS is thankful to the nation and all the stakeholders for their tireless efforts and unwavering support in accomplishing over 97% of the census field operation of this gigantic task of paramount importance for the informed and prudent
