Road Town, Tortola - Director of the Development Planning Unit Mr. Raymond Phillips is reminding the public of Census Day to be observed on 12th June as the Territory will embark on the enumeration process phase of the 2010 Population and Housing Census a few weeks later.

“June 12 is Census Day. This is the date which enumerators will make reference to when they come to the households. The enumerator will not be interested in anything that happens after June 12. They will only be interested in the situation of the household prior to and on June 12,” Mr. Phillips said.

To further illustrate this process the director said, “If you had a death in the family that occurred on June 15 and the enumerator came to your house on June 18, that person should still be counted because on June 12, that person was a part of that household.

Mr. Phillips continued, “If an officer comes to your house on June 15 and you had a live birth on June 14, that live birth will not be taken into consideration because it happened after census day. Everything is in reference to census Day.”

The enumeration process will follow shortly thereafter. Enumerators will be dispatched in over 70 enumeration districts Territory-wide to conduct face-to-face interviews with the public to complete the census questionnaire.

The Director is encouraging persons to submit accurate and thorough responses to the enumerators as the information obtained from the census “forms the basis by which many of government policies are made as it provides baseline information on many aspects of the population. The information obtained will point policy makers in the right direction and the census forms that starting point,” he added.

The Territory’s execution of the Cabinet approved 2010 Population and Housing Census is conducted in close collaboration with CARICOM. All responses gained from the census are held in the strictest of confidence and are protected by law under the Statistical Act, 2005.