Myanmar's Minister of Population and Immigration together with UNFPA representatives, celebrities and prominent members of the country’s movie, television, writers, poets and traditional dance associations gathered on Monday (10th February 2014) to explain the importance of country's upcoming census. This will be the first nation-wide population count in more than 30 years and will be key to the nation's future development. The Myanmar census will be conducted between 30th March until the 10th April 2014.
The Minister touched on the many efforts underway to raise awareness of the census throughout the country in an effort to building trust in the census exercise. This will be crucial to ensure that the enumeration will result in accurate and reliable data. He concluded by appealing for everyone to participate fully in the census.
Ms. Janet Jackson, UNFPA Myanmar Representative, said in her opening remark that the census was both “timely and historic” referring to the country for not having held a census in over 30 years. “It will be the first time in a very long time that Myanmar will have complete, accurate and reliable data.” She said the census was important for the country. “This is a chance, at least for the next ten years, for each person to tell their story, what their needs are and those of their family and children. The data reports will also be important for the private sector, universities and civil society to better understand the socio-economic reality of people in the country and in the community and make Government accountable for its resource allocation,” she said.
Ms. Jackson explained how the UNFPA has helped to give technical and financial support to the census preparations over the past 18 months in partnership with the Department of Population in the Ministry of Immigration and Population, to ensure that the census is fully in line with international standards, including how to proceed with the much talked about issue on ethnicity. “The Government has assured UNFPA that international norms and standards will continue to be upheld in the next stages of the census. This will include ensuring respondents will have the chance during data collection to self-identify their ethnicity either from the list of 135 official ethnicities or by describing their own ethnicity. This includes those that wish to identify with mixed-ethnicity. Enumerators are trained to ensure that you will have this chance,” said Ms. Jackson.
In stressing the importance of the census Ms. Jackson concluded: “It is the voices of people that matter in the census. Their answers will give a snapshot of Myanmar as it is now – how many people there are, where they are spread across the country and what their living conditions are.
The story of the population and living conditions of the people can only ever be as complete and correct as those who tell it during the census. In order for this to happen, everyone needs to participate.”
Monday's event also included the unveiling of the official unity song to raise awareness of bringing together diverse groups and the importance of the population count. The song was performed by a group of famous vocalists and traditional Myanmar dancers performed in front of a large screen, showing images of highlights from around the South-East Asian country.
Everybody present within the borders of Myanmar on the Census Night (29th/30th 2014) will be enumerated regardless of their citizenship, religion, age, gender, etc.
