• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Census Conspiracies

I did door-to-door data collection for the Canadian census one time, back in the last century (when wooly mammoths still roamed the Earth). Later, I read in our local newspaper (the Victoria Times-Colonist) that the census had been "relatively successful", since we reached 96% of all residents, or some such figure. I was intrigued by this; and I wondered who had counted the 4% that we missed . . . .
 
I did door-to-door data collection for the Canadian census one time, back in the last century (when wooly mammoths still roamed the Earth). Later, I read in our local newspaper (the Victoria Times-Colonist) that the census had been "relatively successful", since we reached 96% of all residents, or some such figure. I was intrigued by this; and I wondered who had counted the 4% that we missed . . . .

For England and Wales in 2021 the claimed completion rate is 97% of households. (But this is not directly comparable to the 96% you quote for Canada.)

In both censuses you start with a list of all the dwellings where people may live and then try very hard to get a response from all of these (as you know that could include a canvasser discovering the dwelling is unoccupied or even non-existent). But there remain some dwellings - say 3% in England and Wales where you fail to make contact. Residents for these dwellings are imputed which gives you the people you missed.

In England and Wales there is an additional step to estimate dwellings that were missed from your original list and not discovered by canvas. I expect Stats Canada do something similar but couldn't see it described in a quick look at their Census Guide.
 
"Residents for these dwellings are imputed."

Pretty much what I thought; just slightly more sophisticated than sheer guesswork, then.

That figure I quoted of 96% shouldn't be relied on as accurate; it's just what I vaguely remember from a news report I read about thirty years ago. I'm fairly sure that I found everything that could charitably be described as a "dwelling" in my area, which was pretty rural. This included tumbledown shacks and trailers (caravans) in various states of repair, from those hidden away in remote woodlands to one in the far corner of an industrial yard; this latter seemed deserted when I visited it, but I left the requisite papers there - and as it turned out, someone did, indeed, live there; at least he filled in the form and mailed it in.
 
Back
Top