Page 225 - Invited Paper Session (IPS) - Volume 2

IPS224 Jean-Michel Durr
nevertheless have that fear. Because census data is used to apportion seats in
the US House of Representatives, dole out federal funding and serve as the
basis for state-level political districts, an undercount of immigrants could
affect a state or city’s political representation for a decade. The case came to
the Supreme Court who rejected the commerce department’s stated
justification for including a question on citizenship.

Field work
Instructions given by the Government during fieldwork sometimes interfere
with the conduct of the census. In Myanmar, the last 2014 census was marred
with serious irregularities regarding the implementation of the international
methodological and human rights standards. International recommendations
clearly require the option for self-declaration of ethnicity and the indication of
multiple ethnic affiliations (as opposed to using pre-established
classifications). The Government of Myanmar listed 135 predefined official
ethnic categories, comprising eight major groups and sub¬groups. However,
this list did not enjoy consensus among ethnic leaders. Early on in the
preparations, UNFPA advised the Government to ensure that self-
identification would be respected for all. Nevertheless, a few days prior to start
of enumeration, the Government reneged on its commitment to allow for the
self-identification of all ethnic groups, as it refused to enumerate those who
would declare Rohingya as their ethnicity. As a consequence, the census did
not cover certain areas of Kachin and Kayin States as well as in Northern
Rakhine, where communities were not allowed to self-identify as “Rohingya”.
Analysis of census information by the Department of Population, in charge of
conducting the census, revealed and estimated total of over 1,200,000 not
enumerated in parts of the Rakhine State, Kachin State and Kayin State. This
represents 2.34 percent of the population [3].
Less tragic is the tentative to inflate the population counts of a municipality
or region for financial or political reason. The census in many countries is the
basis on which apportion the sharing of funds or seats at the Parliament, or
even representativeness in the national Government. Thus, fraud attempts are
observed in many countries, developing as well as developed, in particular
when local authorities are involved in census operations. Census Commissions,
established in several countries, are often problematic in that regard.
Depending on their composition, their role can include: logistics support but
in some cases also “democratic” control of the census operations. Composed
of local citizen but also political or ethnic groups representatives, they
sometimes exceed their mandate, giving direct instructions to census field
workers, in contradiction with the methodology, for example to enumerate
persons who are not resident.

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