SURINAME

1. Name and address of the organization responsible for the census:

General Bureau of Statistics Census Office, Kromme Elleboogstraat 10, Paramaribo.

2. Population censuses conducted since 1945 (years):

1950, 1964, 1972, 1980 and 2003.    The present description relates to the 2003 population census (held on 31 March).

3. Coverage of the census:

(a) Geographical scope: Whole country.     

(b) Persons covered: All persons of all ages.   

4. Reference period:

The week preceding the census day. 

5. Main topics:                                  

(a) Total population, by sex and age:  yes.   

Economically active population by:

(b) Sex and age group:  yes                            

(c) Industry:  yes                                                        

(d) Occupation:  yes                                       

(e) Status in employment:  yes                                    

(f) Highest educational level: yes

(g) Hours of work:  no                                               

(h) Other characteristics:  no  

Re (a): The age is defined in terms of date of birth (or alternatively as age at last birthday).  

6. Concepts and definitions:

(a) Economically active population:  It comprises all persons aged 15 years and over who, during the reference period, were either employed or unemployed, according to the definitions given below.

(b) Employment:  Considered as employed are all persons who, during the reference period, performed an activity for wage or salary, in cash or kind, profit or product or earned from own account work (including persons who were temporarily absent from work, due to leave, sickness, etc.).  The question used to determine whether a person is to be counted as employed is “In the week preceding the census day, was he/she at work or had a job but was absent from work?”.

It is reported that the following categories are included:                                        

i)         persons doing unpaid work in family firm or business;          

ii)        persons engaged in production for own consumption;            

iii)       persons, temporarily absent from a job;                     

iv)       working students with a part-time job;                                   

v)         seasonal or occasional workers;                                            

vi)       conscripts for military/civilian service;

vii)      apprentices and trainees:

Persons belonging to categories (i) and (iii) can be identified separately.

(c) Unemployment: Considered as unemployed are all persons who, during the past four weeks, were not employed and in this period were seeking work for pay or profit or tried to perform an economic activity on their own account.  The question used to determine whether a person is to be counted as unemployed is “Did this person seek work in the past four weeks?”.

7. Classifications used:

Only employed persons are classified by industry, by occupation and by status in employment.           

(a) Industry:   Based on the question “Where did this person work the week preceding the census day?  Give name and activity of the business”.  For coding industry, 16 groups of the national classification were used.  Links to ISIC-rev.3 have been established at its group         level.

(b) Occupation:  Based on the question “What type of work did this person do the week preceding the census day?”  For coding occupation, nine groups of the national classification were used.    Links to ISCO-88 have been established at its 4-digit level.

(c) Status in employment: Based on the question “In the week preceding the census day, did this person work as: 1) Employer; 2) Own account worker; 3) Unpaid family worker; 4) Employee; 5) Doesn’t know; 6) No answer?”.  The aforementioned six groups were used for coding status in employment.

 (d) Level of education: Based on the question “What is the highest level of formal education that this person has attended?”.  For coding level of education the following seven groups of the national classification were used:  None; Kindergarten; Special education; Primary education; Secondary education; Pre-university vocational; University. “Did this person receive the diploma?” was also asked.  Links to ISCED-97 have been established.

8. Main differences compared with the previous census:

In the 1980 census the coastal population were asked different types of questions concerning economic activity from those asked to the population living inland, whereas in the 2003 census there was one questionnaire for the whole country.

In the 1980 census there were questions on additional jobs and hours of work; these questions were not included in the 2003 census.

9. Publication of the census results:

It is planned to publish the final results of the census between July and October 2004. 

The title of the publication containing the final results will be “Suriname 2003; Sixth Population and Housing Census”.

The organization responsible for the publication is the General Bureau of Statistics Census Office.

The census data will also be available in the form of diskettes; CD-ROM; on the website (www.statistics-suriname.org) and samples in anonymized micro-files.