Census data collection in Addu City has been concluded on schedule, the Maldives Bureau of Statistics (MBS) has said.
The Statistics Office made the announcement in response to messages circulating on social media that the census work was stopped in Addu City ahead of the scheduled date.
Chief Statistician Aisha Hassan told AVAS that data collection work in Addu City had been completed. Therefore, household visits have not been conducted in Addu City since Thursday night, she said.
"I think there is some confusion among the people due to the way we announced the census dates. The date we have announced is the final date by which all census-related work must be completed in all islands. The work will be concluded in some islands ahead of the date that we announced," she said.
Data collection for the 2022 Census began on September 13. Although it was initially scheduled to conclude data collection work by September 25, the period was extended by two days due to a shortage of enumerators. Therefore, the final date for data collection is now September 27.
MBS also denied allegations that the tablets used by enumerators in Addu City were brought to Male' City while data collection was ongoing. Ninety-nine percent of the census work has been completed in the atolls, the agency said.
Four thousand three hundred enumerators have been recruited for the census, of whom 1,991 are in the atolls and 2,409 in the Greater Male' Area. The census is conducted from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m every day.
The provisional results are scheduled to be announced on October 6, while the final results will be announced on October 20, National Statistics Day.
The first official census in the Maldives was conducted in 1911. The last census in the Maldives was conducted in 2014. As per the most recent census, the population of the Maldives was 420,071.
