An increasing number of countries in Asia and the Pacific are exploring the use of administrative data sources as an addition or alternative to full field enumeration in censuses. While some are aiming to eliminate field enumeration altogether, others are using administrative data to improve the quality and efficiency of a traditional census approach. This Stats Brief overviews how some of the National Statistical Offices in Asia and the Pacific are integrating administrative data into their censuses.

This Brief is part of the ESCAP’s work on population registers and censuses under the Bloomberg Philanthropies Data for Health Initiative (D4H) Project: “Supporting improvements to civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems in Asia and the Pacific (Phase III)”.

This Stats Brief was prepared by Stein Terje Vikan, Consultant, ESCAP Statistics Division, with valuable inputs from Petra Nahmias, Chief of Population and Social Statistics Section, ESCAP Statistics Division and Afsaneh Yazdani, Statistician, ESCAP Statistics Division. The author prepared this Stats Brief based on the report on “Emerging trends in census approaches in Asia and the Pacific”. The author extends his gratitude to Seiffe Tadesse, Meryem Demirci and Srdjan Mrkic, United Nations Statistics Division, Alison Culpin and Michael Sharp, the Pacific Community, Gloria Mathenge, the Economic Commission for Africa, as well as National Statistical Offices of Armenia (Karine Kuyumjyan), Australia (Ross Watmuff, Gemma Van Halderen, and Georgia Chapman), Indonesia (Ali Said, Nashrul Wajdi and Diah Ikawati), Mongolia (Batchuluun Dorj), Republic of Korea (Kang Jeong-hee, and Byungsik Lee), Thailand (Hataichanok Puckcharern), and Turkey (Mehmet Doğu Karakaya, Metin Aytaç, Mehmet Şaban Ucari, Alper Acar, Önder Değirmenci, and Osman Orhanli).