Lao PDR’s Population and Housing Census (PHC) will take place in March 2025. The census provides a detailed snapshot of the total population, their social and living conditions including those who are living in hard-to-reach and remote areas.
To ensure the success of this massive national statistical exercise, the Lao Statistics Bureau (LSB) has coordinated with relevant ministries and mass organizations in terms of personnel needs, such as the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Education and Sports, Lao Women’s Union and Lao Youth Union. Throughout the pilot PHC from 27th May to 16th June 2024, with technical and financial support from UNFPA and key development partners including Australian DFAT, USAID and China AID. This exercise is not only a field data collection testing, but a pilot census that implements all the processes and stages of the census as a main one. The pilot census will take place in selected areas in four provinces, namely Vientiane Capital, Houaphan, Bokeo and Sekong during the aforementioned period.
Census field teams, which are composed of enumerators and supervisors, will visit households in 100 enumeration areas in four provinces. Field staff will be recognisable as they will wear a census-specific outfit and hold official census ID cards.
Dr Bakhtiyor Kadyrov, UNFPA Representative said: “The Population and Housing Census is among the most complex and large peacetime exercises a country undertakes. It must be implemented through strictly sequenced and interlinked interventions. In this respect, the pilot census is a key census project milestone and a very important exercise, considering it is a full rehearsal of all census procedures to test the effectiveness and reliability of the census tools, instruments and methodologies. This is also to understand the extent of awareness of citizens of the census in March 2025 to inform our census communication and publicity campaign”.
The enumerators will ask questions to the Head of the Household on the usual residents and their demographic and socio-economic characteristics. They will also collect information on housing conditions, household belongings, and economic activities. All usual residents of the household including babies, children, adults, elderly people, and people with disabilities will be included in the pilot census. At the end of the interview, enumerators will post a sticker next to the door, indicating the completion of the pilot counting of this indicated house/dwelling.
Enumerators will collect households’ information using tablets, and will always ensure that the recorded data are kept confidential. Indeed, the collected data are only for statistical purposes, and will never be shared or disseminated. All the collected data are and will always remain private and confidential. It is expected that nearly 15,000 households will be visited during the three weeks in May-June 2024.
Mme Phonesaly Souksavath, Head of Lao Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Planning and Investment, said: “The 5th Population and Housing Census is a national survey that is the only key sources of information for our leaders to update the database of Lao PDR population throughout the past 10 years. A database that will contain information on fertility, death and migration of citizens, including detailed information on the characteristics of citizens, age structure, gender, ethnicity, religion, birth registration, holding identity cards-family books, education, occupation, living condition and access to various services. The census provides adequate baseline data for monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the 9th National Socio-Economic Development Plan (NSEDP) and the preparation of the 10th NSEDP and relevant sectoral policies. The census also provides data for monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the vision of 2030. Ensuring in-depth preparation is crucial for quality implementation of the census next year. As Laos moves toward middle-income status in 2026, data and evidence from the census will be even more crucial for the government, the market, and public services to make evidence-based decisions on the path to economic growth and impact while leaving no one behind”.
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UNFPA, the UN's sexual and reproductive health agency, works in over 150 countries, including Lao PDR, to achieve zero maternal deaths, zero unmet need for family planning and zero gender-based violence.
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