Counting the costs of a twenty-first century census: South Africa's census 2001

Abstract

Increasingly complex societies necessitate the collection of more information, or more sophisticated ways of estimation. This places upward pressure on the cost of collecting such information, as family structures are more complex, mobility more frequent, and willingness to provide information declines. As a result, rising census costs have become an issue in many countries. South Africa's 2001 Census was arguably the most expensive in the country's history. However, assessing the cost of a census requires a closer scrutiny of the cost of census-taking as well as the procedures that were followed and the benefits that might arise. This paper uses information provided by Statistics South Africa to analyse the cost of Census 2001 and explore lessons that may be derived for future census activities.

The analysis in this paper and the conclusions that are drawn are those of the authors only, and do not reflect the views of the Statistics Council or the University of Natal. The information and assistance provided by Statistics South Africa staff and management are however acknowledged, as are the comments received from the members of the Census sub-committee of the Statistics Council and two anonymous referees. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Joint Population Conference on Urban and Rural Sustainable Development, 13–17 October, 2003, Potchefstroom.

Notes

¹Hereafter referred to as Stats SA.

²A spreadsheet provided by Stats SA will be used for analysing the breakdown of expenditure in comparison to the budgeted amounts (Scott, 2003; Stats SA, nd,a). Thus all analysis at the line item level sums to R968,9 million. During the time of the Census planning and implementation, the South African Rand experienced substantial fluctuation against most major currencies, although at the time of writing the exchange rate is approximately R6:$1.

³The adjusted population and household figures have been used. Prices were corrected by Stats SA, using the Consumer Price Index (De Beer, 2003). This is a still a somewhat crude estimate, as the prices of different components of the Census would have increased at different rates, and a substantial proportion of Census costs were absorbed by wages and the cost of hiring professional services. In addition, the currency fluctuations over the period of the census would have affected the cost of imported goods and services. Finally, as De Beer comments, in Census 1996 Stats SA administered an amount of R100 million for aerial photography on behalf of the Independent Electoral Commission. This amount was included as part of the main budget in Census 2001, and it is not clear whether the amount has been allocated to the costs.

⁴It must be noted that the approved allocation was actually R848,3 million and that this table does not represent unapproved over-expenditure. However, a detailed budget for this amount was not available.

⁵Estimate based on public works wages plus administrative cost taken from McCord (2002).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Pali Lehohla

Associate Professor, School of Development Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal; and Statistician-General, Statistics South Africa