The Comptroller General of the Republic and the National Institute of Statistics and Census (Inec) will carry out the XII Population Census and VIII Housing Census, from January 8 to March 4, 2023, after two years of delay due to the pandemic .
The deputy director of Inec, Hilda Martínez, explained that this census will last 56 days and the modality known as “entitlement census” will be used, which allows for a better quality of information and the use of technology. In addition, the population will not be immobilized during those days.
The first stage begins on September 18 with the technological test and ends on October 15. While between the months of November and December, the recruitment and training of the enumerator staff will take place.
He stressed that for the first week of July of next year it is planned to release the preliminary data and the official data in September, with a “conservative estimated projection” above 4,200,000 people.
The census will be done from Monday to Sunday from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm, with a methodology in which a single person can answer the general questions, but there will be other specific ones that each member must answer.
Martínez explained that since 2010, a census has not been carried out in Panama that allows knowing the exact population of the country, and the conditions in which its inhabitants live. This last population census showed figures very close to 3.5 million people.