Mexico Census 2010 and Technology

I’m always amazed at the technological innovations Mexico embraces. It may just be that moving from a total lack of infrastructure in certain areas to the latest possible infrastructure is much easier than trying to retrofit more complicated systems that are already in place. Take the recent Mexico census, for example.

Mexico this year has been conducting a Population and Housing census, and census-takers combed the country, moving house-to-house collecting data, from May 31 through June 25 of this year. For most people, the census consisted of a series of 29 questions covering demographics and housing details. According to INEGI, 10% of the houses visited were issued a longer and more detailed questionnaire, consisting of 75 questions. The census-takers were well identified, organized and conscientious and possessed of state-of-the-art tools for locating addresses and geographic information.

It is a massive job.

Today, while checking the official website of INEGI (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Geografia — the Mexican National Institute of Statistics and Geography), I see there is a notice up on the news page to the effect that INEGI is now in a second phase of data collection, directed to those people who for one reason or another were not able to complete the census questionnaire, perhaps because no one was ever at home when the house was visited or the person present was not able to answer properly. At these homes a final notice was left containing a unique access key.  The key allows those not counted to answer the census questions either by phone or by Internet. For those who do not have an access key, access can still be obtained by phoning a number displayed on the website. (For full information, in Spanish, visit Noticias del Censo)

Of course, I would think that many of those people who were not counted may not have a computer or Internet access, or even a phone or electricity, for that matter. And those that do may still not quite understand the option being offered and how to go about answering the call. And then there is the sector of the population who don’t have homes at all. How are, in fact, all the pepenadores (garbage pickers) who live in the Mexico City dump actually counted?

Nevertheless, it this census taking does present an interesting scenario and I’ll be looking forward to seeing the results of this census compared to those done in previous years.

Following is Mexico census information from the 1995, 2000 and 2005 counts.

Source: INEGI

Demographic Methods and Concepts

Originally posted 2010-08-06 12:52:31.