ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) has announced an extension in the deadline for the country’s ongoing first-ever digital population and housing census until April 10. The move came in an apparent attempt to ensure the complete coverage of the population and leftover houses.
The 7th population and housing census was supposed to culminate on April 4. However, the PBS decided to extend the deadline on the recommendation of the provincial census commissioners and the chief census commissioner.
According to a spokesperson of the Federal Bureau of Statistics Sarwar Gondal, 92% of the census work has been completed in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Sindh. Meanwhile, 66% has been completed in Balochistan and 72% in Islamabad.
In a notification, the PBS stated, “The instructions regarding the extension in the field operations of the population and housing census may be conveyed to the census field staff and other concerned for smooth completion of the census field operations.” It also added that security-related institutions would be informed to arrange security for census field staff until the extended deadline of April 10, 2023.
Gondal further stated that the process of digital census is still ongoing in 28,000 blocks across the country, which is expected to be completed in the next two to three days. Until Monday 3pm, the PBS had listed 2.94 million households in their database, with 2.42 million enumerated households and 12.33 million enumerated population.
It is pertinent to mention here that despite claims of progress, many blocks of Central, East, and South districts of Karachi remain to be enumerated. Residents of the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) have complained that their houses haven’t been listed yet, let alone the enumeration of their families.
