Problems of Taking a Census

Question 1

Expensive and time-consuming.

Answer 1

Forms need to be produced, distributed, collected and collated.

Question 2

Lower literacy rates in developing countries.

Answer 2

Impossible to fill in a census as they can’t read or write.

Question 3

Difficult terrain and poor communication.

Answer 3

Remote areas will not be included, e.g. mountain villages, therefore result inaccurate.

Question 4

Many different languages.

Answer 4

If the form is in a different language then it could be impossible to fill out - to make forms in different languages is extremely costly.

Question 5

War-zones.

Answer 5

Dangerous and create refugees - possibly counted multiple times or not at all - war fatalities may have already been counted.

Question 6

Under registration.

Answer 6

Can occur for social/religious reasons - e.g. women may not be included in some Islamic countries.

Question 7

Distrust of government.

Answer 7

People may not return accurate data.

Question 8

Migration.

Answer 8

Vast numbers of people move to other areas - making previous counts largely invalid.

• Normadic people - can be omitted from census counts or counted repeatedly.
• Illegal immigrants may avoid census counts.