SUZHOU, China, 23 September 2024 – The United Nations Population Fund  (UNFPA) in China, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) of China, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), and the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) jointly hosted a regional workshop on the  Use  of Administrative Data Sources for Population and Housing Censuses in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province of China. The workshop is conducted against the background that most of the countries in the region have completed their 2020 round of census and have started to plan and prepare for the next round of population and housing census, including moving towards a register-based census.

The workshop brings almost 100 participants from the national statistical offices, relevant governments of 16 countries and the United Nations agencies in Asia and the Pacific. 

They will exchange experiences on population and housing censuses and discuss the potential use of administrative data sources for census, through the four and half days’ workshop, in the format of lectures, country presentations, discussions, practical group activities and site visit.

In the opening remarks, Ms. Rachael Beaven, Director of the Statistics Division at UNESCAP highlighted that the demand for timely, high-quality, and disaggregated data has never been greater as countries in Asia and the Pacific are quickly approaching the 2030 round of Population and Housing Censuses, set to begin next year.

Ms. Ruan Jianhong, Deputy Commissioner of the NBS said that China has completed seven rounds of population censuses and gathered rich experiences especially from its innovative practices from the latest 2020 census. She hopes countries in Asia and the Pacific strengthen cooperation in using administrative data for population census and develop models that can be replicated and rolled out. 

Ms. Ira Ovesen, the Officer-in-Charge of UNFPA in China said population and housing censuses are the cornerstone of demographic data in all countries. She called for more innovative and inclusive data to better capture the vulnerable groups and reflect the changing population and development contexts.

Mr. Wu Qingwen, Mayor of Suzhou welcomed all participants from Asia and the Pacific region to Suzhou. He noted that the city was recognized as a group of excellence at the seventh national population census. Suzhou will intensify its efforts and explore more good practices for improving its population and development.

The workshop is supported by the Government of China financial contributions through the Ministry of Commerce made available to UNFPA China for South-South and global cooperation.

The workshop noted that the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development have led to an increase in demand for more disaggregated statistics for sustainable development. Increasing the use of administrative data for census provides an opportunity to improve data quality, reduce the costs of census operations and produce more timely information in countries in Asia and the Pacific region. 

• For more information, please contact: 

Shujun Liu, Communications Analyst, UNFPA China, sliu@unfpa.org.