A Country paper on

Population and Housing census of Nepal and

Consideration for Electronic data capture

Regional Workshop on the Use of Electronic Data Collection

Technologies in Population and Housing Censuses

24 - 26 January, 2018

Bangkok, Thailand

Nepal in Brief

� A landlocked country in South Asia with geographical area 147,181 square kilometers.

� Altitude ranges from 70 meters to 8,848 meters above sea level.

� Population 26.4 million (2011), Household 5.4 million, 1.35 % annual growth rate, and

population density 180/square km.

� 125 caste/ethnic groups, 123 languages.

� Projected population 28.8 million (2017)

� The Constitution of Nepal (2015) has declared the country a Federal Democratic Republic of

Nepal.

� 7 Federal states, 753 local units - 460 Rural Municipalities and 293 Urban Municipalities

History of Population Census

� Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) has mandated to conduct the

population and housing census

� The first population count was undertaken in 1911 in Nepal.

� Since then, the process has been continuing in every ten-year.

� The 2011 Population Census was the Eleventh in a series of these

censuses.

� Four censuses before the 1952/54 census are considered as “head

counts” only.

� The earlier censuses of Nepal were not that precise as compared to

the modern censuses.

History of Population Census

� Census conducted in 1952/54 is considered to be first modern

census. (Because introducing internationally comparable concepts,

definitions and classification.

� After 1961, a census has been taken in every ten years.

� Censuses up to 1961 were manually processed and tabulated.

� The computerized processing and tabulations were done only from

1971 Census. Data capturing process is still manual.

� The last census in this series is the 2011 Census (marked 100 years of

the population counting in Nepal)

� Used ‘modified de jure’ method for counting population

Population and Housing census 2011

� Conducted in two phases

� Household listing (began from May 15, 2011 and ended on June 1,

2011.)

� Contains Questions on number of houses, Households, Household members

(By Sex, Holding of Agricultural land and livestock, own account small

business other than agriculture )

� Individual Enumeration (17-27 June 2011)

� Form I

� Form II (sample household only)

� Face to face canvasser method

� Paper questionnaire

Organizational set up of the census 2011

� A steering committee, headed by the Hon. Vice-chairman of

NPC was formed to provide guidance to the CBS to ensure the

smooth operation of all census activities.

� A Technical Committee was formed under the chair of the

DG, CBS.

� Special thematic committees formed for publicity, data

processing etc.

� Various working groups.

� District Census Coordination committee. The committee

provided guidance and monitored fieldwork at the district

level.

Organizational structure of the census 2011

Census 2011 Steering Committee

Chair person, VC, NPC

Central Bureau of Statistics

(Director General)

Population Section

(Director)

Social Statistics Division

(Deputy Director general)

District Census Office

(District Census Officer)

Ilaka Census Office

(Ilaka Supervisor)

Ilaka Census Office

(Supervisor)

Ilaka Census Office

(Enumerator)

Census Tech. Committee

Chairperson, DG, CBS

Thematic Committees (Mapping,

Q-Design, GESI, Publicity,

Processing)

Chairperson, DDG, SSD

District Census Coordination

Committee

Chairperson, CDO

Census questionnaireUsed three type of Forms

� Household Listing

� It contains questions on number of house, households, household

members by sex, agricultural land operated and livestock owned by

households and operation of small scale non-agricultural activities.

� Individual Form -1

� contains questions on types of house, household facilities/assets,

ownership of house or land of female members of the household,

mortality and its causes, details of absent members of households.

� Also, included in the form-1 are: name, relationship to head, sex, age,

caste/ethnicity, marital status and age at first marriage, religion, mother

tongue and second language, citizenship, type of disability, literacy and

level of education.

� Individual Form -2 (Sample household only)

� contains questions on migration, fertility, labour force, occupation,

industry, employment status and living arrangement of children (under

the age 16)

Human Resources

� Approximately 41000 field staffs were engaged in census

taking in 75 districts

� Enumerator- 31000

� Supervisor- 7900

� Others -2000

� Supervisor- enumerator ratio was 1:4.

� Women participation more than 40%

Census Mapping

� EA maps were prepared to improve the coverage of the enumeration.

� Orthophoto, a database of digital maps provided by the Departmentof Survey, was used to prepare VDC maps with ward boundaries thathelped enumerators to identify the area they were assigned toenumerate.

� Due to the limited time and resources, not all VDC maps wereupdated with changed features. However, large VDCs with urbancharacteristics were selected and updated with amended featuresand ward boundaries.

� In municipalities, EAs were delineated according to the number ofhouseholds, ranging from 200 to 450 depending upon the availabilityof clear features marking boundaries.

Data Processing

� Data entry along with coding and editing works of the 2011 census

questionnaires was outsourced to the private agencies

� CSPro, an integrated software developed for data entry, editing,

verification and tabulation was used for data processing (key entry,

editing and verification).

� CSPro, SPSS and STATA were used for tabulations.

� Approximately six hundred data processing staff, plus experts, were

involved in coding, editing, key entry operations and verification.

� Preliminary results that contained the total number of houses,

households, present population, and also absent population were

released in September 2011. (within three month of enumeration)

� The final results of the census were released in November 2012

Key lessons learned from census 2011

� Decision on financial resources required for the census should bemade in time, so that operation modalities, and the selection oftechnology and methodologies can be fixed in advance to avoiderrors.

� Number of census questions should be optimally determined Thenumber of questions and the length of the questionnaire should bereduced. Reducing the length of the questionnaire will help toimprove the quality of data and facilitate the use of electronic datacapturing as well.

� Open ended questions should strictly be minimized

� New technology of data capturing, such as ICR, OMR or CAPI, beadopted for easing data collection, capturing and processing.

� Enumeration area (EA) maps should be prepared in time and useextensively for reducing coverage errors in the census.

Preparing for Population and Housing

Census 2021

� Census planning has been initiated from the current fiscal year

(2017/18) with the approval of the programme under the

programme of the Government of Nepal (GoN).

� CBS has started interactions with national stakeholders in view

of identifying user's needs.

� Estimates of population for the year 2021 for all lowest

administrative divisions is underway.

� Building enumeration blocks for all necessary areas of Country.

� Preparing a census project document for census 2021

CBS recent experience in Development and

Application of Technological Advancements

� Used Tablet Computer to Enumeration for Earthquake Affected Housing Survey for National Reconstruction Authority (NRA)

� The application was prepared by using ODK (Open Data Kit) platform. The data collected in the field with the application was sent instantly to the central server of CBS housed at Government Integrated Data Center (GIDC) through WIFI.

� Use of CAPI for ongoing survey on Nepal Labour force Survey.

� Application of multi-modal approach for Economic Census 2018

� Introduce e-Census to Enumeration

� Using Tablet Computer to Enumeration

� Developing and Using Satellite Images for Census Mapping

� CBS constructing a database for rural/municipal and EA maps that could be used for the forthcoming Population and Housing Census and Agriculture Census with necessary maintenance

Key Issues that need consideration in deciding

to undertake electronic data capture

� High equipment costs with limited long-term use.

� A census generally employs a large number of enumerators. Purchasing a Handheld

device for each enumerator is costly.

� Devices may get lost, stolen, or break during the census enumeration.

� More time needed during the preparation stage.

� Need time for programming the application, setting up systems for data transfer and

storage.

� Requires extensive testing.

� Needs more skilled programmers who are able to do sophisticated programming

specific to the handheld device (e.g., Android) and all the necessary components

of an electronic questionnaire application.

Key Issues that need consideration in deciding

to undertake electronic data capture

� Requires technologically skilled enumerators with more

training and field support.

� Requires that enumerators can use a handheld device.

� Requires intensive training of enumerators on use of device.

Training may be more complicated than with paper

questionnaires

� Requires more technical support in the field to replace or repair

devices and troubleshooting of hardware or software application

problems.

Key Issues that need consideration in deciding to

undertake electronic data capture

� Technological problems could interfere with enumeration.

� The battery could run out during enumeration.

� The equipment could break leading to data loss or lost enumeration days.

� There are more infrastructure constraints to consider.

� A large and well-organized warehouse to store and manage Tablets and power banks will be required.

� Electricity needs to be available to charge the devices; challenging in areas with limited electricity.

� Limited Internet availability may cause difficulties in data transmission and other functions of the mobile data capture software applications that rely on the Internet.

� Needs a system to transfer the data from the handheld devices in a timely and secure manner.

� Data security must be assured during data collection, transfer, and storage.

� Needs a system for backing up the data to prevent data loss.

Thank You