According to the director of the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC), Samuel Moreno, the count that concludes in March – pending since 2020 when it was postponed by Covid-19 – will allow to know how many Panamanians and residents inhabit the isthmus, where and how they live.

Unlike previous experiences, this time the survey will last two months and will be carried out in person with the visit to the homes by some nine thousand activists, including enumerators and supervisors. Earlier Censuses were carried out on a single day at a national level.

But with this change in methodology, the research will have a minimal impact on the economy and population mobility, INEC explained. Technology will be implemented for data collection with the use of 8,650 Mobile Capture Devices (MCD) by census enumerators.

Samuel Moreno indicated that the census will have a cost of 54.7 million dollars, with the use of high technology, although in some areas of difficult access paper will be used.

The official specified that he expects to have preliminary datas on July 15, 2023 and, in October of the same year, the final information.

He also stressed that censuses have been conducted since 1911 and as on previous occasions, it is a matter of State, a vital survey of statistics, so he requested the cooperation of the citizens.

INEC said in a press release that this year’s population and housing census will emphasize issues related to living conditions, ethnicity and access to vital services such as water.

Among the questions are details about the housing in which the families live (mortgaged, owned or rented), the construction materials and the type of sanitary service.

Also of interest are: the occupants of the household, date of birth, whether they appear in the civil registry of Panama, another country or both, ID card number, which country they are citizens of, current marital status and data on other family members.

For the Government of this country, the objective of these censuses is to determine the number of people in the country, how they live and to have scientific data to support the design of public policies, programs and social actions to improve the quality of life of Panamanians as well as permanent residents.

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