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Census details to be released at the end of March

The latest census in the Maldives was conducted in 2022, with the slogan ‘count me in’ or ‘aharenves baiveri vaanan’. This was the first census collected since 2014 and is one of the few census sessions to be conducted in the Maldives to date.

Census, which is conducted at regular intervals in order to gather details about the livelihood, income as well as the overall life experiences and health of the citizens of a country are a pretty special occasion, especially in the Maldives.

The 2022 Census 

While a lot of kids learn about census later in life, everyone in their 20’s have experienced at least one census collection in their lifetime. Usually highlighted by the salt test conducted in order to check the type of salt that is used in their households, census is a period of time that can be extremely exciting as young kids learn about this ‘phenomenon’ that usually takes place once every five years.

The latest census in the Maldives was conducted in 2022, with the slogan ‘count me in’ or ‘aharenves baiveri vaanan’. This was the first census collected since 2014 and is one of the few census sessions to be conducted in the Maldives to date.

The 2022 census mainly focused on statistics in order to improve the increasing housing crisis in the Maldives and the data collection focused around points as:

  • The resident population by island (local and foreign), age and sex disaggregated population at island level
  •  inter-island migration including migration within the greater Male’ region
  • indicators needed to monitor Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) including fertility rate, unemployment rate, labour force participation rate, not in employment, education or training (NET) population
  • data needed to assess the conditions of children, youth, elderly and disabled population
  • Compile a survey frame for economic surveys (statistical business register)
  • Revise the population projections up to 2054.
  • Island level data to generate business statistics (size, employment, income, profitability of business by Industry)
  • Data needed to improve GDP of Maldives

When will the census information be released?

The census collection was conducted on Sepetmber 2022, and ever since then people have been waiting to see the detailed report of information that was collected. The results of this census are something people are waiting not only to see whether things have changed or improved since 2014, but it is also about whether the Government will use this information to bring about changes, especially regarding the housing crisis in the country.

The Maldives Bureau of Statistics (MBS) has revealed that the bureau will be publishing the information on March 30, 2023. 

The information that they will be releasing on the end of March will mainly focus of three years, which include population, residence, as well as the listed avenues in the census statistics.

While the detailed statistics has not been released yet, unofficial results state that the current Maldivian population is 521, 457 and the 'official' population of expats in the Maldives is currently 97,000.

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