RIYADH — The General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) emphasized that the communication between census enumerators, who are tasked to collect information and data related to Saudi Census 2022, and citizens and residents would only be through the uniform number of the authority and there would be no communication by the officials with the public through their mobile numbers. The authority announced this on the occasion of the official commencement of the Saudi Census 2022 on May 10. The GASTAT made this clarification in response to an inquiry from one of the tweeters, who reported that he had received a call from an unknown mobile number claiming to be from a census official, asking him to provide with his personal data over phone. But the tweeter refused to deal with him, asking him instead to verify his identity, which prompted the authority to stress that its communication will only be through its uniform number 920020081. In this context, the authority stated that self-enumeration will be made available soon for those who wish to fill up the census form without the need to visit the enumerator, and its availability will be announced soon. The GASTAT wished that all citizens and residents would actively take part in the census exercise. The authority indicated that the actual enumeration phase began on May 10, and that the census data is complementary to the data of administrative records in various agencies, in terms of additional data such as features of housing, health status and educational status for each family member. GASTAT also stressed that the population census is the most important source of social and economic data, as the Saudi Census 2022 aims to provide a complete and accurate figure of the population, in addition to housing data, health status, educational status and data of workers for each family member belonging to all age groups. The Saudi Census 2022 program, which is an essential pillar of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, is the fifth census in the Kingdom's history. The last general census of population and housing in the Kingdom was conducted in 2010 during which the Saudi population stood at 27,136,977 people. The GASTAT had carried out a trial-run enumeration in September 2021, covering seven cities across Saudi Arabia, including Riyadh, Makkah, Tabuk, AlUla, Asir, Al-Diriyah, and the Eastern Province. It included numbering of buildings and its components of housing units and families. The trial-run enumeration has also included counting the population in labor camps and public housing to identify their demographic, social and economic characteristics. It is noteworthy that during this pilot project, the authority dispensed with using paper forms and replaced them with tablets to collect data, in order to obtain accurate results. Apart from the demographic distribution across Saudi Arabia, the statistical outputs of the census include the income and living standards of the targeted people and educational status. It also enables data usage for policymakers, in order to guide future development projects and assist decision makers in making decisions based on reliable information that help to achieve the Kingdom's Vision 2030 goals by developing public services such as education, health, and public transportation, as well as for preparing urban plans for cities and to distribute budgets over projects and initiatives.
