INSIDE STATISTICS

ACENSUS of a population is defined in militaristic terms as the biggest mobilisation in peace times. In fact the acronym for the statistics office of Egypt Capmas, stands for Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics.

The public mobilisation aspect was specifically important for collating information to inform the state of the resources that are there, such as doctors, nurses, prospective conscripts for military service, rice provisions and other food required to sustain the public in times of war.

Like in 2 Samuel 24:2 “So the king (David) said to Joab and the commanders of the army: Take a census of all the tribes of Israel – from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south to enrol the fighting men, so that I may know how many people there are” – the census or statistics function as in Egypt had not therefore departed from its function in biblical times – that of war.

King Shaka is said to have asked his army general Mbopha about the strength of his warriors and Mbopha is said to have replied that they are as many as the number of hair strands on a buffalo skin.

Managing the logistics of a census depends on understanding the numbers.

Undertaking of censuses as a discipline is steeped in serious project management. Uncertainties pertaining to supplier capabilities and funding levels can turn to be very costly.

It is 2001 March and we are at the UN Statistics Commission, where the bean counters of the world meat annually to address statistical methods, and as it is at the break of the 2000 Round of Population and Housing Censuses the discussions are focused on the census.