E/ESCAP/STAT.11/13/Add.1
30 October 1998
ORIGINAL: ENGLISH

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

Committee on Statistics
Eleventh session
24-26 November 1998
Bangkok

DESCRIPTIONS

ArcInfo	Geographic Information System (GIS) software.
ArcView	A viewer for GIS used in landscape architecture, natural resources management, and agricultural engineering curricula, or any disciplines entailing resource management.
AmiPro	A word processing software.
ANTHRO	A software developed by the Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization, used for anthropometric indices calculation.
ADEM-REPORT and ADEM-SERCH	Application software used for the table check for the population census of Japan.
FIVFIV and FIVSIN	A program for population projections at national, regional and city levels, and simulations.
MapInfo	Software product for mapping, data visualization and GIS.
MortPak	United Nations software package for mortality measurement.
People	A user-friendly software package designed for demographic and human resource development applications.  It provides the facilities for making national and subnational population projections classified by age and sex.
PopMap	Integrated geographical software providing maps and graphics database.
QUICKTAB	An IMPS module used for some early output of simple tables.
RACT	A software used for data back-up.
SPLUS	Statistical analysis tool.
SuperCROSS	The function of SuperCROSS is to retrieve and summarize huge amounts of textual and numeric data from high volume databases  and display these in the form of tables, making it an ideal tool for the census.
Supermap	A software produced by Space-Time Research PTY Australia Ltd., used as a primary tool for the mapping of census data.
Workers	A user-friendly software package designed for demographic and human resource development applications.  It takes the projected population numbers and provides the facility for making projections of labour supply, households and education as well as for assessing resource implications, such as teacher and classroom requirements.  In addition to generating basic projections, it gives a range of carefully designed tables and charts to highlight the analytical features of the results.

I. INTRODUCTION

1. On the recommendation of the Working Party on the Application of New Technology to Population Data, the secretariat conducted a survey on application of new technology to population data.  A questionnaire was sent to all 56 national statistical offices (NSOs) in the region in April 1998.  By the time of compilation of this paper 27 completed questionnaires had been received.  The secretariat wishes to express its appreciation to all those NSOs which have responded to the survey.  One questionnaire could not be used as it was not in a working language of the secretariat; for some others  information on some aspects was incomplete.  The results presented in this report are thus based on 26 questionnaires, but due to non-availability of information on some items not all the questionnaires could be used for each and every table.

2. Taking into account analytical considerations as well as the volume of information involved and the limitation on the length of Committee documents, the information collected is provided as a summary for three groups of countries/areas given below.  However, information at the national level for some basic items is provided in detail in Table 1.

Group 1: Developed members of ESCAP

Australia
Japan
New Zealand

Group 2: Members and associate members of ESCAP which are either newly industrializing economies or developing members of OECD

Hong Kong, China
Republic of Korea
Singapore
Turkey

Group 3: Developing members and associate members of ESCAP

American Samoa
Bangladesh
Bhutan
China
Fiji
Guam
Indonesia
Islamic Republic of Iran
Kyrgyzstan
Lao People's Democratic Republic
Macau
Malaysia
Maldives
Marshall Islands
Myanmar
Pakistan
Philippines
Samoa
Sri Lanka
Turkmenistan

3. The Committee is requested to take note of the results of the survey and give its comments and recommendations concerning improvement of information technology (IT) application in the NSOs of the ESCAP region.

II. RESULTS OF THE SURVEY

A. Use of information technology in the national statistical system

1. Equipment and human resources

4. Table 1 provides information on the size of the country/area, personnel resources of its national statistical office (NSO), and personal computers (PCs) and hardware resources.  In all three developed countries of the region, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, as well as in Singapore, there is at least one personal computer on the desk of each staff member.  Marshall Islands is perhaps a special case where vacancies in a small national statistical office can easily distort figures.  American Samoa and the Republic of Korea are very well equipped with PCs.  Most NSO staff of Fiji, Guam, Hong Kong (China), Lao People's Democratic Republic and Macau have access to PCs.  Bhutan, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Turkey are less well endowed in terms of PC accessibility.  The survey results indicate that PC accessibility is low in the NSOs of other developing countries, such as Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

5. Regarding the availability of network-connected personal computers, all staff of the NSOs of Australia, Japan, New Zealand and Singapore have their PC connected to a network.  More than half of statistical personnel in Macau and the Republic of Korea are connected, while the figure is around one third in Fiji, Hong Kong (China), Lao People's Democratic Republic and Maldives.  In American Samoa and Malaysia there are 6-7 personnel per network-connected PC, and as many as 14 in Indonesia  and the Philippines.  The figures are higher still for Bangladesh,  Myanmar and Turkey.

2. Use of selected technology

6. Figures 1-3 suggest that there is a wide gap between developed and developing countries in the application of technology in NSOs.

7. Table 2 shows that mainframe computers are still common in the NSOs in the region, irrespective of  the stage of development.  However, when it comes to the application of communication technology the gap between developed and developing countries is quite visible.  While all the NSOs in groups 1 and 2 have e-mail,  half of the NSOs in developing countries lack that facility.  Similarly, not only do all the NSOs in groups 1 and 2 have Internet connection, most of them have leased lines. By contrast, only 8 out of 19 NSOs in developing countries reported the availability of Internet connection, which predominantly depended on dial-up networking.

8. Information provided in the survey, but not tabulated in this document, also points to a significant gap between developed and developing countries in terms of the actual number of staff who have access to modern information technology facilities such as the Internet.  In one developing country NSO with more than 4,000 personnel, the Internet is  available to only 10 users at a time.  On the other hand, in the developed countries and more advanced NSOs it is available for hundreds of users.  In one developed country, although access to the Internet is available to all staff, users are restricted  as a matter of policy to a browser which does not support frames, and the sites they can visit are limited.

9. Table 2 also provides information on the use of other IT components such as local area networks (LAN),  scanning devices, and geographic information systems (GIS) for mapping.  Manual mapping is still the most common method used by developing countries.

3. Commonly used software

10. Table 3 provides information on the most commonly used software in the NSOs of the ESCAP region.  It shows that a wide range of software is utilized for various applications.  Apparently, there is no particular pattern or preferential differences among the three groups of countries/areas.

B. Technology used for population censuses and surveys

11. The survey asked the responding NSOs to select one census or survey and provide information on it concerning application of technology.  Of the 26 NSOs responding to this section, 18 provided information on population/housing censuses, 7 on surveys and 1 on a general population register.

1. Design, preparation and management of censuses and surveys

12. Information was sought on technology applications concerning questionnaire design, development of manuals and other instructions, operational control, and budget and cost control.  Table 4 shows the results.  There is some indication that group 3 countries mostly depend on manual procedures.  Various word processing and other software packages are utilized to assist different stages of work.  The nature of technology applications among NSOs in groups 1 and 2 goes beyond mere word processing and spreadsheet application.

2. Enumeration, coding, data capture and scrutiny

13. The technology used in these areas is shown in Table 5.  As far as enumeration is concerned, the personal interview method is the most dominant mode, for which hard copy forms are used.  However, one NSO in group 2 plans to introduce an electronic submission system and CATI for its 2000 census.  Usually coding is also done manually but in some cases computer-assisted coding has been mentioned.  For data capture, key-to-disc entry is commonly used but 8 NSOs out of 23, including 3 from group 3,  have mentioned the use of OMR.   For data scrutiny, input editing, verification and imputation, various approaches have been used.  In developing countries the use of IMPS and  its component CONCOR is quite common.

C. Tabulation, data storage and dissemination

14. The survey also asked questions about the use of IT in NSOs for tabulation, estimation and analysis, data storage and scrutiny, and the media of data dissemination arrangements in the NSOs of the region.  Tables 6-8 provide a summary of responses.

1. Tabulation, estimation and analysis

15. As can be seen in Table 6, some of the software used for these purposes is common to all three  groups of countries/areas.  However, group 1 and group 2 NSOs also use  tailor-made systems while group 3 NSOs very often use software available free of cost in the public domain, such as IMPS, MortPak  and  PopMap.  The two major statistical analysis software packages, SAS and SPSS, are commonly used irrespective of  the stage of development of the NSOs.

2. Data storage and scrutiny arrangements

16. An attempt was made in the survey to collect information on arrangements used for data archival and data back-up.  The information is summarized in Table 7, which shows the variety of arrangements used, ranging from diskettes and tapes to modern optical media such as CD-ROM.  The table gives some indication of security arrangements and the use of passwords.

3. Media of data dissemination

17. Table 8 summarizes the information for 26 NSOs on the media used for data dissemination.  It is clear that printed publications are used by all the NSOs.  In the area of electronic dissemination, diskettes constitute as the most common medium, while CD-ROM is also utilized for dissemination by more than half  the reporting NSOs.  Dissemination through e-mail is also practised  in 12 of the 26 NSOs.  All group 1 and 2 countries disseminate data through the Internet while only about one third of the group 3 NSOs have mentioned that medium.

Figure 1: Availability of personal computers for NSO staff by country/area.

Figure 2: Availability of personal computers for NSO staff by group of countries/areas.

Figure 3: Availability of network-connected personal computers for NSO staff by group of countries/areas.

Table 1. Application of information technology in selected countries of ESCAP region, 1998  

MacauSelected Countries/areas in the ESCAP region	Population (in thousands) mid-1998)	Number of employees in the national statistical office		Percentage of IT personnel	Number of PC in use	Number of network- connected PCs
		Total	IT Personnel
American Samoa	59	50	-	-	41	8
Australia	18,898	2,845	329	12	3,280	3,280
Bangladesh	124,178	4,428	362	8	286	125
Bhutan	1,922	26	4	15	13	-
Fiji	822	70	9	12	40	22
Guam	160	53	-	-	32	-
Hong Kong, China	6,700	1,495	91	6	795	467
Indonesia	204,336	11,942	664	6	2,778	840
Japan	126,380	1,823	101	6	2,000	2,000
Lao People's Democratic Republic	5,354	50	...	...	26	22
Macau	458	256	22	9	181	180
Malaysia	22,174	1,710	181	11	421	240
Maldives	268	5	-	-	...	2
Marshall Islands	61	6	-	-	12	-
Myanmar	47,602	311	63	20	35	10
New Zealand	3,763	729	94	13	922	922
Pakistan	141,680	...	...	...	11	-
Philippines	72,070	3,055	76	2	948	250
Republic of Korea	46,444	1,281	127	10	1,111	1,104
Samoa	167	32	4	12.5	12	-
Singapore	3,929	212	58	27	249	249
Sri Lanka	18,459	1,183	143	12	124	-
Turkey	64,747	2,741	126	5	730	40
Turkmenistan	4,313	212	...	...	...	-

Table 2. Application of selected technology in NSOs  

Reported use of technology	Group 1	Group 2	Group 3
Mainframe computers	3	4	9
LAN	3	4	12
E-mail	3	3	9
Internet connection       Dial-up       Leased line	2	2	8
	1	2	3
Scanners, OMR, OCR	3	3	5
Mapping/GIS       Manual       GIS etc.	-	-	4
	3	3	3

Table 3. Most commonly used software.  

Application	Group 1	Group 2	Group 3
Word processor	Lotus Notes (2); Ami-Pro (1); Word-Pro (1); OASYS [Fujitsu] (1) MS Word (1); Ichitaro8 [Justsystem] (1)	MS Word (3); Hangul 97 (1)	MS Word (19); Borland C++ (1); WordPerfect (5); PE2 (1); Acrobat (1); latex (1); WordStar (1)
Spreadsheet	Excel (2); Lotus (1)	Excel (4)	Excel (19); Lotus (6); Quattro Pro (2); Lotus Notes (1); IMPS (1)
Database	Oracle (2); Access (1); SQL Server (1); Sybase (1)	Oracle (2); DB2 (2); FoxPro (1); SAS (1); FAME (1); Natural (1); dBASE (1); Access (1); MS Visual (1)	dBASE (7); Access (6); FoxPro (5); IMPS (3); MS SQL-Server (2); Oracle (1); SAS (1); SPSS (1); Sybase (1); Clarion (1); Clipper (2); Btrieve (1); Paradox (1)
Graphics	Freelance (1); tailor-made system (1)	Harvard Graphics (2); GDDM (1); MAC (1); PowerPoint (1)	Harvard Graphics (6); Excel (6); PowerPoint (4); Corel Draw (3); Quattro Pro (1); Paint Brush (1) MS Publisher (1); Lotus (1); Freelance (1); PageMaker (1); PhotoShop (1)
Analysis	SAS (3); tailor-made system (1); Access (1)	SAS (4); SPSS (1); FAME (1)	SPSS (9); SAS (8); IMPS (2); STATA (2); ISP (1);  SPLUS (1); MortPak (1) ; PERT (1); MS Word (1); TSP (1); Q5 (1); Excel (1)
Mapping/GIS	MapInfo (2); Tailor-made system (1); ArcInfo (1)	ArcInfo (1)	MapInfo (5); ArcInfo (3); GIS (2); AutoCAD (2); PopMap (2); ERDAS (1); ArcView (1); Atlas (1)
Population projection	SAS (1); SuperCROSS (1); Excel (1);  MapInfo (1); Lotus (1); tailor-made system (1)	Tailor-made system (1); POP SYN (1); QBasic (1); Lotus (1); dBASE (1)	People (12); Mortpak (3); DEMPROJ (2); Labour (1); Fortran (1); Fivsin (1); PAS (1); Workers (1); Excel (1); Basic (1)
Other commonly used/software	SQL Windows (2); Outlook (1); PC3270 Emulator (1); ACOS ETOSA Emulator (1); PowerPoint (1); Blaise (1);  SSA-Names3 (1); SuperCROSS (1); Visual Basic (1); Novell V4 (1)	Lotus Notes (1); Mcafee Anti-virus (1); X-11-Arima (1); WordPerfect (1)	IMPS (3) Visual Basic (3); COBOL (2); Lotus (1); AmiPro (1); EASWESPOP (1); ISSA (1); Access (1); Paradox (1); Delphi (1); Redua (1); Pascal (1);  Desktop Publishing Software (1); RPG (1); PowerPoint (1)

Table 4. Technology used for design, preparation and management of censuses/surveys.  

Operation/step	Group 1	Group 2	Group 3
Questionnaire  design	PageMaker for electronic transfer to print (1); MacDraw Pro (1)	Type-setting (1); on-line forms from the Internet (1); ICR/OCR/OMR (1); on-line screen for the CATI (1)	Excel (4); WordPerfect (3); Lotus (2); OMR (2); MS Word (1); WordStar 6 type-net (1); personal Editor (1); paper (1)
Development of  manuals and  other instructions	Lotus Notes (1); MS Word (1); on-line help (1)	MS Word (1); Lotus (1)	MS Word (5); WordPerfect (4); Excel (2); WordStar (1); done manually  (1)
Operational  control	Lotus Notes (1); Collection Operation Management System (COMS) (1)	Custom made programs for sampling, enumerator information system and field-work control system (1); computerized Census Management System (CMS) (1)	Done manually (3); Excel (2); Clipper (1); CENTRACK (2); ISSA (1); FoxPro (1); Ganlt Chart (1); PEC (1)
Budget and cost control	Lotus Notes (1); Lotus (1); Finance System written in Oracle (1); Access (1)	Computerized Resource Management System (RMS) (1); tailor-made system (1)	Excel (6); done manually (2); Lotus (2); Spreadsheet (2); MS Word (1); dBASE (1)

Table 5. Technology used for enumeration, coding, data capture and data scrutiny  

Operation/step	Group 1	Group 2	Group 3
Enumeration	Drop off and collection (2)	Personal interview (4); personal computer (1); CATI (1)	Personal interview (8); done manually (5); OMR (1); List-enumerate method (1); Clipper (1)
Coding	Done manually (2) computer assisted coding (2)	Done manually (3); ACE (1)	Dome manually (17); computer assisted coding (1); OMR (1)
Data capture	OMR (3); OCR (1); ICR (1)	OMR (2); Key-to-disc (1); done manually (1); CATI (1)	Key-to-disc (6); IMPS (4); OMR (3); CENTRY (2); USP (1); FoxPro (1); SAS (1); CONCOR (1); dBASE (1)
Data scrutiny	Tailor-made system (3)	COBOL (1); CATI (1); DVS (1); tailor-made system (1)	CONCOR (5); IMPS (3); done manually (3); Hot- deck (2); Access (2);  Cold-deck (1) ; ISSA (1); FoxPro (1); SAS (1); CENTRY (1); COBOL (1)

Table 6. Technology used for data tabulation, estimation and analysis  

Operation/step	Group 1	Group 2	Group 3
Data tabulation	SuperCROSS (2); SAS (1); tailor-made system (1); ADAM-REPORT (1); ADAM-SERCH (1)	SAS (3); tailor-made system (2); FASTAB (1); VAX/VMS (1); COBOL (1); PL/I (1)	IMPS (9); CENTS (5); SAS (3); SPSS (3); Excel (1); ANTHRO (1); Access (1); dBASE (1); ISSA (1); CROSTAB(1); COBOL (1); QUICKTAB (1); REDATAM (1); C-language (1)
Data estimation	Tailor-made system (2)	SAS (2); tailor-made system (1)	IMPS (2); People (2); SAS (2); FoxPro (2); SPSS (1); FIVSIN (1); MortPak (2); Excel (1); Lotus (1); RPG (1)
Data analysis	SAS (3); Excel (3); SuperCROSS (2); Lotus (2); MapInfo (2); ArcInfo (1); MS Word (1)	SAS (3); FASTAB (1); SPSS (1); FoxPro (1); Excel (1); tailor-made system (1)	SAS (6); People (5); Excel (5); SPSS (4); MortPak (4); Word (2); FIVSIN (1); REDATAM (1); PC-Edit (1); QUICKTAB (1); PopMap (1); Lotus (1); Harvard Graphics (1); ArcInfo (1); FrontPage 97 (1); ISP (1); C-language (1); Fortran (1); ELT (1); PERT (1)

Table 7. Data storage and security arrangement  

Operation/step	Group 1	Group 2	Group 3
Data archival	Encryption kept in the central office archival (1); physical security (2); password (2); LAN (1)	Read-only files (1); password (1); physical security (1); tape (1); tailor-made system (1)	CD-ROM (2); cassette tape (2); tape (2); diskette (3); optical disk (3); PC (2); LAN (2); password (3); Novell (1); RACF (1); mainframe (1); zip (1); encoding (1)
Data back-up	Physical security (3); password (1); tape (1)	Tape (2); cartridge (3); CD-ROM (1); physical security (2); tailor-made system (1)	CD-ROM (4); diskette (5); optical disk (2); tape (6); LAN (3); password (1); zip (4); LS 120 (1); cassette tape (2); RACT (1); PC (1); mainframe (1); cartridge (1)

Table 8. Media of data dissemination  

Media	Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Remarks
Diskettes	3	3	14	-
CD-ROM	3	3	8	-
E-mail	2	3	7	-
On-line (Internet)	3	4	7	-
On-line (others)	3	2	4	SISMAC (1); EBBS (1);  tailor-made system (2);  faxes
Others	1	2	2	Tape (2); cassette tape (1);  Telelink (1)
Printed publications	3	4	19	-

^1/ The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this document do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.  Mention of any firm, licensed process or product is only for illustrative purposes and does not imply endorsement by the United Nations.