Pakistan is moving toward its 7th Population and Housing Census 2022 which is called first ever digital population and housing census in Pakistan. A Software has unveiled for the management of digital census. Secretary Planning Syed Zafar Ali Shah inaugurated the software for the 7th Population and Housing Census 2022.
The software for 7th digital census is developed by NADRA after consultation with Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). This software has 16 modules. Provision of tablets for the 7th digital census is the responsibility of NADRA. The cost for procurement of hardware and software is estimated as Rs10 billion
According to the reports PTI Govt has allocated Rs.5 billion in FY 2021-22 for the population and housing census 2022. The remaining expenditure will be met out from the current year budget.
The data collection exercise for the pilot census has been started by PBS field staff for testing the tools, mechanism, and field operations. Through this exercise, PBS will be able to point out and rectify all minor and major issues regarding software and field execution plans before undergoing full rollout.
A census monitoring committee comprising important provincial functionaries, researchers, and demographers was constituted to monitor all activities of the population census. Geo-tagging, data collection and listing software, and standardized concepts of field force through extensive training and real-time monitoring are the innovations recommended by the census monitoring committee for reliability, acceptability, and reducing the time between field operation and results announcements.