7th Population & Housing Census-2023: Data collected strategic resource for Data-Driven Policy Making: Ahsan

ISLAMABAD: The data collected through 7th Population and Housing Census-2023 is a strategic resource for Data-Driven Policy Making, Prof Ahsan Iqbal, Minister Planning, Development and Special Initiatives said.

Federal Minister of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal appreciated Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on completing gigantic activity of 7th Population and Housing Census in challenging timelines during his visit to PBS on 15th March, 2024 after assuming the charge of the Ministry.

Prof Ahsan Iqbal anticipated that it is the time to get the benefits from the digital Population Census that was conducted in 2023 and was approved unanimously.

Professor Ahsan Iqbal announced to conduct First Data Fest in Pakistan in 2024, the initiative of First Data Fest will be a great step towards extending the benefits of data and bridging gap between data producers and users, as it will inform government and private sectors, academia, business communities how to get benefit from data.

“The population growth rate of Pakistan is 2.55 percent which is alarming and indicative of decline in proper allocation of resources,” said Prof Ahsan Iqbal.

“Efforts should be made to work in collaboration with universities to share practical knowledge with students of Statics and relevant Field,” said Prof Ahsan Iqbal.

For Price Governance and controlling inflation, PBS has developed Decision Support System for Inflation (DSSI). The live demonstration of system was presented by Muhammad Sarwar Gondal, Member (Support Services/IT).

Chief Statistician, Dr Naeemuz Zafar, Member (Support Services), Muhammad Sarwar Gondal and Member (Census and Surveys) along with senior officers of PBS extended a warm welcome to the Minister and congratulated him on assuming his responsibilities.

The purpose of visit was to have an overview of the latest developments and initiative taken by PBS to generate reliable data for Policy Making and Development Projects.

Dr Naeemuz Zafar, chief statistician informed him that PBS has taken the initiative to adopt “Three in one” approach to implement the “Integrated Digital Count” Strategy i.e., Integration of Agriculture, Mouza and Agricultural Machinery counts into one Census i.e., 7th Agricultural Census (Integrated and Digital count). The fieldwork will be carried out in 2024.

Further, the PBS is going to launch the results of the 7th Population and Housing Census after which the First Data Festival will be conducted. The PBS has completed the re-basing of national accounts that is a great step towards improving GDP.

Muhammad Sarwar Gondal presented live demonstration of the DSSI which can be effectively utilised for controlling inflation. Implementation of the decision support system will provide data for PSDP baseline monitoring.

The minister showed satisfaction over all the initiatives and innovations and anticipated that these initiatives will provide reliable grounds for informed decision making. Further, he emphasised that correct utilization of Census data will lead the country towards Development and approved the conduct of first Data Fest.

While talking on results of 7th Population and Housing Census he said population of Pakistan showed a decreasing trend in ‘2017 Population and Housing Census’, but the trend is again increasing in 2023 Census, which is alarming. “There is need to work on Population Development Projects at Provincial level. The implementation of these projects is essential for improving the standard of living,” he said.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024