Census Definition

The population census is one of the largest statistical operations. It consists of a number of stages and steps that result in a total enumeration of all the living individuals within specified borders at a specific period of time, particularly to register their count, geographic distribution and their various characteristics.

The housing census, however, is a process collateral to the population census aiming at obtaining the number, distribution and characteristics of existing housing units.

The United Nations defines the Population Census as:

"The total process of collecting, compiling, evaluating, analyzing and publishing or other wise disseminating demographic, economic and social data pertaining at a specified time, to all persons in a country or in a well-delimited part of a country."