Adequacy of Existing Census Statistics for Basic Demographic Research

Abstract Present knowledge of population characteristics and trends in many parts of the world is seriously defective, when compared with the minimum needs for even the most elementary demographic analysis. The deficiencies are especially serious in the countries of Africa and Asia, and to a lesser extent in those of Latin America. Very many of the countries in these regions have had either no population census at all in recent decades, or only censuses known to be grossly deficient in coverage. Only a few of them have census data on sex and age of the population which can meet mild tests of accuracy and of sufficiency for analytical studies. Yet in these regions the census is almost universally the only source of information about population trends, for statistics of births and deaths are usually either totally lacking or too incomplete for use in this connexion. The population censuses which are being taken in 1950 or planned in 1951 for a great many countries will undoubtedly make an important improvem...