President issues gazette ordering census

By Rathindra Kuruwita 

President Ranil Wickremesinghe had issued a gazette notification ordering a census of population and housing in Sri Lanka for 2023 and 2024, P.M.P. Anura Kumara, Director General Department of Census and Statistics, told journalists in Colombo, yesterday.

The Census and Statistics Department Director General said the President, in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Economic Stabilization and National Policies, had ordered the Department to carry out the census by the powers vested in him by Section 2 of the Census Ordinance, Kumara said.

The Department had planned to conduct a population and housing census of the country in 2021 but postponed it due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Kumara said that the census will be carried out in four stages, i.e., mapping, listing, data capture and publishing the data.

The mapping process had been carried out in 2021, and the Department will now take steps to list the houses into several categories, he said.

“This will be done in September 2023. Data capture will be carried out in mid-2024,” he said.

The theme of the census was accurate data leads to win-win situations, the Director General said.

The first population and housing census in Sri Lanka was conducted in 1871 and a census is usually conducted every 10 years.