No one will visit your house for ECensus 2020

Muscat: Ecensus 2020 will be the first electronic census without field visits by the authorities to update information and requires Omanis and expats alike to update their information themselves.

HE. Dr Khalifa bin Abdullah bin Hamad Al Barwani, Chief Executive Officer of the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), said today, "This ECensus is different from other censuses done before because it will depend entirely on data gathered electronically from different organisations. This means that there is no team going to your house to ask you for information.

"A good amount of the information needed already exists in databases, and needs to be updated and checked," he added. "But at the same time there is other information that must be collected. For example, we aim to use electricity bills as proof of residency and address, and so it is important that everyone updates their bills to be under their name," he added.

The census, according to Al Barwani, will begin in 2020 and should end by December, 2020. For all information to be collected correctly, the Ecensus has started a new campaign titled 'Your Information, Your Identity' which will last for three months and aims to make people aware about any information they may have missed updating such as birth certificates or rental contracts.

"If this census is completed successfully, Oman will be a leader in the field of censuses," Al Barwani added. "The information will constantly be updated."

"It is important for everyone to look at the bundles of indicators we will release and think about what information they will need to update. Some of that will be electronic, while some will involve you getting in contact with a Sanad desk or a government body and using your ID card to give them your information."

According to him, people will benefit from this census because it will make future procedures easier to complete.

Al Barwani said that this census will be cost effective down the line.

"Our least census cost us around 20 Million. This system eliminates that cost, and the government will be able to update the census daily. By 2030, it will be as if there are no costs for the census."