The census, which will take place for some 15 days, has already identified zones and tasks have been distributed among data collectors with each surveyor responsible for some 750 accommodations, said Abdullatif Al-Khamis, director of the Department of Social Statistics.
Al-Khamis, who is also secretary-general of the census’ media committee at the Central Department of Statistics and Information, said it is challenging to get information from non-Saudis who do not have resident permits and people who do not have proper IDs.
“Our goal is to include Saudis and non-Saudis residing in the Kingdom’s borders. We are not concerned whether people are living legally or not. We just want to include them in the census,” said Al-Khamis.
He added that the census will include people living under bridges, and in hospitals, student accommodations, prisons, parking lots, ships, airports and in the Kingdom’s border areas.
Speaking about the nature of questions to be asked, he said, “This is our fourth census and we have experience that both Saudis and expatriates know well that questions asked are of a basic nature and nonsensitive. However, this does not mean that there aren’t people who still do not want to give information.”
He added that the media awareness campaign about the census, which has been ongoing for 18 months, will help increase levels of cooperation.
Al-Khamis said people are not obliged to part with information and that surveyors will not be accompanied by police officials to force people to cooperate.
“It is a 10-minute process that will not take much from people,” he said, adding that questions will not be of a personal nature but simply general and that people should not be afraid to cooperate.
He also said the census does not include a section about underage marriages, as the request to include this question came after the census had been approved. “Many governmental departments asked us to add more questions. However, they were unaware that the census had been approved 18 months ago. The approval was not arbitrary, rather it came after consultations with experts as well as local and international bodies,” said Al-Khamis.
Censuses are also to be undertaken in other Gulf Cooperation Council countries simultaneously though they are not entirely similar, according to Al-Khamis.
