Censo 2017

Today was the national census in Chile. Generally taken every 10 years, the 2017 census was a special one, following only five years after the previous one (2012). I heard that, during the 2012 census, a new technique was attempted for reaching the population. This was apparently spread over a month and resulted in significantly lower response rates from the population. I was told a cover-up ensued, and the published response rates were significantly higher than the actual response rates. So, in order to obtain a better census, the old style was reinstated and the census was repeated.

The method traditionally used is to reach as much of the population as possible in a single day through the use of a large number of volunteers and census workers. Census takers went door-to-door, interviewing the inhabitants and filling out a short questionnaire. This year, over half a million people were involved in collecting the data (for a population of roughly 18 million). In order to ensure as much of the population was reached as possible, today was declared a mandatory national holiday. People were told to expect census workers anywhere between 0900 and sunset. After interviewing residents, a sicker is placed on the door, to signify that the residence had been included.

My apartment was visited by a census worker around 1000 and the interview was short and fairly easy (fortunately, also appropriate for my current command of Spanish). The questions mostly centered around the number of persons in the apartment, employment, building status, and rough economic indicators (how many TVs and microwaves do you have). I was mildly proud that I was able to do it without resorting to English (though the questions weren’t that complicated). The interview was over in less than 10 minutes, a sticker was placed on my door, and the rest of the day was “free” (ALMA proposals are due tomorrow, so it was not really a holiday for astronomers in Chile).

This was my first participation in a census and it was interesting to see how it was done. It will be interesting to see how successful it was, particularly compared to the 2012 census and the previous 2002 census.