Based on the results announced by the Public Statistics Department concerning the recent census in the Kingdom, the country’s total population was 22.67 million. Of that number, 16.5 million are Saudi which accounts for 72.9 percent; there are 6.23 million expatriates who account for the remaining 27.1 percent. The department said its figures were final and absolute. Well, that doesn’t seem to be the case as far as some people, including myself, are concerned.
The other day, a Saudi engineer complained that he and his family had not been included in the statistics since no census officer had ever visited them. He declared solemnly and emphatically that neither he nor any member of his family had been included in the census.
He is not alone. Newspapers quoted many Saudis, in both urban and rural areas, as saying that they had not been included in the census. A few days ago as I sat with a group of friends, three of them said they had not been included in the census; they vowed that no census officer had knocked on their doors.
Now it is my turn to swear that I too was never approached by any census official. Like the engineer, no member of my family was ever questioned or counted. In other words, our names do not appear in the official records listing Saudis living in the Kingdom.
In previous articles I wrote that the time-frame for conducting the census was inadequate and that we needed more time to allow as many people as possible to take part. Conducting a census is not a simple process because its results determine a country’s future economic and social development plans.
I don’t know how many people were left out, but it would be a disaster if as much as 10 to 20 percent of the Kingdom’s population had been omitted from the results. It means all our future planning will be off because the numbers do not indicate the country’s actual needs. Now, what will become of all those whose names were not included in the final results? Will they still be considered part of the Kingdom’s population?
