Estimation of erroneous enumerations in the census

ABSTRACT

Erroneous enumerations in the census include multiple enumerations and other errors. The linear estimator for estimating these errors currently used in several countries leads to underestimation when the sample used for the estimation comprises few of these errors. The “ratio estimator” of the total number of erroneous enumerations overcomes this difficulty. This is the one used by China for the 2020 census. Empirical analysis shows that the ratio estimator provides a smaller sampling error than the linear estimator.

KEYWORDS:

• Post-census survey
• linear estimator
• ratio estimator

Acknowledgments

The authors thank two anonymous reviewers for their useful comments.

Additional information

Funding

This article was supported by the research planning fund for Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education [20YJA910002]; the National Statistical Science Fund of China [2019LZ24]; the National Statistical Science Fund of China [2019LZ28]; the innovative research project for graduate students of Chongqing Technology and Business University in 2020 [yjscxx2020-094-77]; and the Innovative Research Item of Chongqing Graduate Students in 2020 [CYS20316].