“Preliminary report on 2022 Census delayed until next year,” says Statistical Institute of Belize

By Benjamin Flowers: When the 2022 Population and Housing Census launched in May, the Statistical Institute of Belize (SIB) had projected that a preliminary report could be ready as early as December 2022; however, a number of factors including Hurricane Lisa has pushed the preliminary report into next year.

Miriam Willoughby, Acting Deputy Director General for the SIB, explained that the hurricane severely impacted Belize City and surrounding areas, making it difficult to finish counting in some areas and impossible in others, pushing the projected completion of the preliminary report to June 2023.

“We were affected mainly on the south side, in the north, it was the Vista del Mar area, so for now we are continuing in the city where we can,” Willoughby said

With respect to the end of the counting process, Willoughby said that the hope is to be finished by December, as counting has been completed in some areas, and other areas are nearing completion.

“We’ve already finished the north, Corozal and Orange Walk. We have finished San Pedro, Toledo, and the San Ignacio area. We’re going to wrap up with the Belmopan area by the end of this month; we’re going to finish Stann Creek district by the 20th of this month,” Willoughby added.

A major setback for the SIB in completing the census was the loss of a considerable amount of field staff. for A number of reasons, many of the field staff that initially signed up at the start of the census quit, and replacing them was difficult because of the training that needs to be held for new field staff and the cost associated with holding such training.

“We started off with over 600 and now we’re down to just over 100,” Willoughby also said.

Field staff from other districts have been reassigned to assist with counting in the Belize District, particularly in Belize City, in an effort to meet the projected completion time. The SIB is also considering scaling down the level of questions being asked in the survey, limiting it to only basic demographic and housing information, to ensure that, at least a proper count of the country is done.

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