A review of Caribbean population and housing census experience

Countries of the Caribbean region have jointly undertaken population and housing
censuses since 1960. Earlier censuses were done individually, some dating back
to 1844. Because of population size disparities, economic status and scarce
financial resources, census data began being collected on a regional basis using
the long-form. The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) organizes and oversees the
census-taking process which is constituted to foster collaboration on matters of
trade, economic and social development among the 15 member countries of the
region. The population and housing census is a major decennial event whereby
countries collect data using a core set of questions to which additional core items appended as in accordance with their data needs. Both large and small countries have had to face the
rising cost of census-taking but because of the necessity for detailed data at
regional and individual country levels, censuses have been undertaken without
fail. This paper discusses issues regarding the conduct of the census using the
long-form and considers alternative ways of deriving census data
using design-based and model-based sampling approaches.