Every household, dwellings and barracks in Palau will be subjected to a 20-page questionnaire on income, number of household members, and educational background as part of the 2015 Census.
Funded by the United States Department of Interior, this census will provide new updated information on Palau’s population. The last full census was in 2005.
“For the first time, the census includes sections on agriculture, fishing, household income and remittance”, says Casmir Remengesau, Palau’s Census Commissioner and Director of the Bureau of Budget and Planning. In addition, the census will also capture “the nature of difficulties people face due to health and disability”. He says particular factors such as human rights and gender issues will also be taken into consideration.
For the past 12 months, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) has been providing technical assistance to the Office of Planning and Statistics in preparing for this full census for the first time in a decade.
It will also provide information that would help Palau better prepare and respond to natural disasters and negative consequences of climate change says Gerald Haberkorn, Director of SPC’s Statistics for Development Division.
Information collected are to be kept strictly confidential in compliance with the Palau Statistics Act however results will be released only at aggregated levels in order to protect sensitive information provided by those surveyed.