Sri Lanka to conduct new round of population, housing census

Colombo, July 11 Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe has issued a gazette notification to conduct a new round of census of population and housing in the country, an official said here on Tuesday.

Anura Kumara, director general of the Department of Census and Statistics, told journalists that the census would be carried out in four stages, namely mapping, listing, data capture and publishing the data, reports Xinhua news agency.

The mapping process has been carried out in 2021, and the department will now take steps to list the houses into several categories, he said.

"This will be done in September 2023. Data capture will be carried out in mid-2024," he said.

The first population census in Sri Lanka was conducted in 1871 and a census is usually conducted every 10 years, with the last round of census taking place in 2012.