BPS TO CONDUCT NATIONAL CENSUS IN MAY 2010

Jakarta, Dec 7 (ANTARA) - The Central Bureau of Stastics (BPS) is to conduct a national census in May 2010 with a total budget of Rp3.3 trillion in an exercise done once every decade, the bureau's chief said.

Seventy percent of the amount would be spent on data collection in the field by a work force of 700,000 to be recruited from all walks of life, BPS Chief Rusman Heriawan said at a press conference here Monday.

The 2010 census would be the sixth held in Indonesia since independence and designed to collect the most current data on the country's population in terms of numbers as well as other demographic parameters.

"To BPS, the data collected in 2010 will also serve as a benchmark for the census 10 years later. So, if we don't want to reduce the accuracy of the census 10 years from 2010, we must really work seriously to do a good job next year," he said.

In the forthcoming census, not a single resident would be overlooked because the aim would be to obtain "de facto" population data. This meant, for instance, that people living in Jakarta without a Jakarta resident's identity card would also be registered as residents of the country.

"We will also take all relevant data on the conditions of poor people's housing, not just look at their houses from the outside as was done for the distribution of the direct cash subsidy (BLT) handouts some time ago," he said.

Census takers, who would be required to make "zero" error, were also to collect data on the people's education levels and jobs, and thus the results were expected to serve as initial inputs for the creation of a more comprehensive administration system, Rusman said.