Census data collection to continue until 18 October

Maldives Bureau of Statistics (MBS) said on Wednesday that efforts are still underway to complete the census by phone for those households that had not been visited, and that they are hoping to complete records by next Tuesday.

In a statement, MBS said that 41% of the households that had been inaccessible for enumerators on their visits have now been contacted via phone.

Earlier in October, MBS said there were around 900 unreachable locations in the Male region. According to MBS figures, the number of places that have not yet been reached should now amount to 530.

MBS has urged the public to collaborate with their enumerators and ensure that every individual is accounted for in the census, noting that it is mandatory to provide the required information for the country’s census records.

Bureau employees are still collecting information on individuals and establishments that report to not having been included in head count. 

To arrange for information to be collected:

In addition, owners of uninhabited areas, places not used for sleep or residence and empty lots and spaces have been requested to contact MBS for verification.

The census was initially scheduled to be completed and interim results released on 6 October. However, MBS was not able to produce a temporary result of the census since a major percentage of data collection work remained unrecorded at the time.

"The bureau has decided to release the final results on 20 October 2022 instead of releasing the interim results separately," MBS said at the time.