Expert group meets on 1990 world population and housing census programme.

Expert Group meets on 1990 World Population and Housing Census Programme

An expert group meeting on the 1990 World Population and Housing Census Programme was held at Headquarters from 11 to 15 November.

A resolution adopted in May 1985 by the Economic and Social Council on the recommendation of the Statistical Commission had requested the Secretary-General to proceed with the deveopment of a 1990 World Population and Housing Census Programme, to be carried out during 1985-1994, and to make all of the necessary preparations with a view to assisting interested Member States in planning and carrying out improved censuses.

The resolution had also noted with satisfaction the "unprecedented efforts" made by State Members, in all regions, to carry out population and housing censuses as part of the 1980 World Population and Housing Census Programme. In that decade, a census of population or a census of population and housing had been carried out in 191 countries or areas of the world. Thus, over 95 per cent of the world's population had been enumerated.

The expert group meeting was convened to consider the measurement of the economically active population, internal and international migration, issues of relevance to special population groups--women, children, youth, the elderly, refugees and the homeless--and to provide advice on draft supplementary recommendations for the 1990 round of population and housing censuses. (A set of United Nations Principles and Recommendations had previously been issued by the United Nations in connection with the 1980 World Population and Housing Census Programme.)

The meeting was attended by 11 experts and representatives of various United Nations agencies and other intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. It considered that the new international standards adopted by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) regarding statistics of the economically active population took account of a number of important aspects of the special conditions particularly in the developing countries.

Those included the presence of a large informal sector, a great number of unpaid family workers, the persistent nature of unemployment and the discouragement to look for a job and underemployment. It stressed that the proper measurements according to the new ILO concepts and definitions were vitally useful to most developing countries in formulating their development plans and programmes. Furthermore, the new standards would...