Census and Statistics Dept. kicks off 4 major surveys

Saturday, 23 January 2016 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) yesterday stated it would conduct four household surveys in 2016 including Fieldwork of Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) and Sri Lanka Labour Force Survey (LFS) and Child Activity Survey (CAS) has already been commenced.

Fieldwork of the Sri Lanka Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) DCS will commence from June 2016.

Sri Lanka Labour Force Survey (LFS) has been conducted on quarterly basis since 1990. Important statistics such as the labour force, employment and unemployment, etc. of Sri Lanka are compiled through data collected from this survey.

Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) is conducted to compute statistics including per capita income, per capita expenditure, poverty and ownership of assets etc. HIES is conducted once in every three years and the last round was conducted in 2012/13.

Information on activities of child population between ages five to 17 years are compiled through Child Activity Survey (CAS). Department has previously conducted this survey in 1999 and 2008/2009. This year the DCS is conducting the CAS for the third time. CAS 2016 is conducted with the collaboration of Ministry of Labour Relations and the International Labour Organization (ILO).

There are about 5.2 million housing units in Sri Lanka. According to well-tested sampling designs, 25,000 housing units covering the entire country have been selected for data collection. Same housing units have been selected for the LFS and HIES while different samples of housing units have been selected for the CAS and DHS.

In a communiqué issued by the DCS announced that well-trained DCS staff are now visiting housing units selected for these surveys for data collection.

Census and Statistics Department Director General Dr. Amara Satharasinghe stated that data collected will only be used to compile much needed statistics.

“The confidentiality of information provided by respondents will be highly protected, heads of households selected for the survey are requested to support the enumerators of the Department, by providing accurate information and to extend their fullest cooperation to conduct these surveys successfully,” she said.

Fieldwork of the CAS will be conducted from January to April 2016, and HIES and LFS are yearlong surveys conducted throughout 2016. Enumerators will visit at least only once for the CAS and LFS, and enumerators will visit at least three times each of households selected for the HIES.