Events
Belarusian statistics practices presented during Census Week in Geneva
Photo courtesy of the National Statistics Committee
MINSK, 20 September (BelTA) – The experience of the National Statistics Committee of Belarus in disseminating results of population censuses was presented during the Census Week held in Geneva, Switzerland under the aegis of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the press service of Belarus’ National Statistics Committee told BelTA.
The annual Census Week combines two events: a workshop on population and housing censuses and a meeting of the group of experts on population and housing censuses. The events serve as a platform for sharing the best practices, for increasing the level of knowledge about matters relating to the planning and actual censuses of population and housing in UNECE countries.
Deputy Chairwoman of the National Statistics Committee Zhanna Vasilevskaya and Head of the Central Office for Demographic Statistics and Population Census of the National Statistics Committee Irina Bichan are taking part in the Census Week.
Representatives of Belarus’ National Statistics Committee informed participants about the methods and modern technologies used by state statistics agencies to disseminate census results. “The main purpose of a census is to acquire the necessary information about demographic, social, economic, and other characteristics of the country population. It is also necessary to make the resulting data public and allow anyone to access it,” Zhanna Vasilevskaya noted.
For two years the National Statistics Committee of Belarus has been using an information and analysis system dedicated to handling Belarus population census data. This tool can be accessed by any user without registration and without the creation of user profiles. It also allowed comparing data of the censuses held in 2009 and 2019, making tables according to custom queries, building charts, diagrams, and cartograms to illustrate the parameters the user is interested in. Although the system is simple and offers a friendly user interface, the website offers a user manual and a video with explanations. A number of training seminars has been arranged.
During the workshop on population and housing censuses representatives of the National Statistics Committee of Belarus shared further plans on improving data dissemination methods by leveraging GIS technologies and informed participants about the development of the information and analysis system Geostatistics. “Essentially the system will offer interactive graphical visualization of all the official statistics. In addition to the 2019 population census data it will include information about various branches of statistics, including business demographics,” Zhanna Vasilevskaya noted.
In order to visually present the data, a certain level of data disaggregation will be necessary while keeping the data confidential. Users will be able to get information about the part of Belarus they are interested in taking into account the area’s social, economic, and demographic parameters. “The system will be accessible in any part of the world in Belarusian, Russian and English, including on mobile devices. Users will be able to download information in a format that is convenient for them,” Zhanna Vasilevskaya said.
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