Online Desk  :  The fourth economic census of the country will begin on Tuesday and will continue until December 26. It was informed at a press briefing regarding the Economic Census 2024 project at the conference room of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) in Agargaon, Dhaka on Monday. Mizanur Rahman, Deputy Project Director of the Economic Census Project, provided an overview of the census during the briefing. He said that the census will be conducted nationwide from December 10 to 26 and will utilise a fully digital system.

The census will feature 70 questions, and for the first time, data will be collected using the CAPI method via tablets. So far, 12.2 million units have been identified through listing, with detailed information to be collected from these and other sources. This year’s census will, for the first time, include data on the number of foreign workers in the country, their employment sectors, job roles, and gender distribution. He said that a report on the main census operations would be ready by the end of January 2025.

Some 95,000 data collectors across the country will gather information for the census. The BBS conducts such censuses every 10 years to assess the country’s economic status. Preparations, including publicity campaigns, have already been completed. Statistics and Informatics Division Secretary Md Mahbub Hossain said that this Economic Census would be entirely paperless, leaving no scope for external interference.

He informed that digital maps have been created using Geographic Information System (GIS) and geo-coding to ensure the smooth execution of census activities. Responding to a question, Joint Secretary Dr Dipankar Roy highlighted new features of this census, including the introduction of income, expenditure, and profit data for units and the inclusion of e-commerce operations.