What is the 2015 Census of Population?
The 2015 Census of Population (POPCEN 2015), which is a complete enumeration of households in the country, is designed primarily to take an inventory of the population of the entire Philippines. It also collects information about some characteristics of the population such as age, sex, marital status, and highest grade completed. It will be the 14th census of population to be undertaken in the country since the first census in 1903. Moreover, it will be the 3rd population census to be conducted in between two decennial censuses. Previous to POPCEN 2015, mid-decade censuses were carried out in 1995 and 2007.
What is the main objective of the POPCEN 2015?
The POPCEN 2015 aims to provide government executives, policy and decision makers, and planners with population data, especially updated population counts of all barangays in the country, on which to base their social and economic development plans, policies, and programs.
What are the legal bases of the PSA for conducting the POPCEN 2015?
The authority and mandate of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to conduct the POPCEN 2015 emanates from RA No. 10625 and Executive Order No. 352.
Approved on September 12, 2013, Republic Act (RA) No. 10625, also known as the Philippine Statistical Act of 2013, states that the PSA shall be primarily responsible for all national censuses and surveys, sectoral statistics, consolidation of administrative recording system, and compilation of national accounts. Specifically, Section 6(b) of this Act mandates the PSA to prepare and conduct periodic censuses on population, housing, agriculture, fisheries, business, industry, and other sectors of the economy.
Executive Order No. 352 – Designation of Statistical Activities That Will Generate Critical Data for Decision-Making of the Government and the Private Sector, stipulates the conduct of a mid-decade census primarily to update the population count in all barangays nationwide.
What are the basic uses of the statistics that will be derived from the POPCEN 2015?
The uses of POPCEN data encompass all sectors. Among the important uses of the data from this census are the following:
redistricting and apportionment of congressional seats;
allocation of resources and revenues;
creation/conversion of political and administrative units;
formulation of policies concerning various segments of the population (children, youth, elderly, women of reproductive age, voting age, and working age); and
formulation of policies and programs relative to the delivery of basic services, such as on health, education, employment, housing, infrastructure, disaster relief, and other socio-economic concerns.
In business and industry:
identification of sites for establishing businesses;
determination of consumer demands for various goods and services; and
improvement of supply of labor for the production of goods and services.
In research and academic institutions:
conduct of researches on population and related disciplines; and
study of population growth and geographic distribution as bases in preparing population projections at the national and sub-national levels.
When will the census enumeration be conducted?
The listing and enumeration for the POPCEN 2015 will last for about 25 working days (including Saturdays and holidays), from August 1 to 31, 2015.
Who shall be the respondents in the census?
There are 3 types of questionnaires to be used in this census: the Household Questionnaire (CP Form 2), the Institutional Population Questionnaire (CP Form 4), and the Barangay Schedule (CP Form 5).
The respondent for CP Form 2 shall be the head of the household or his/her spouse, or any responsible member of the household who can provide accurate answers to the questions or who can give correct information for the household and all its members. For CP Form 4, the respondent/s shall be the manager, administrator or the individual members of the institution or institutional living quarter. The Punong Barangay or any incumbent barangay official, meanwhile, shall be the respondent for CP Form 5.
Are census respondents obliged to provide truthful and complete answers to the census?
Yes. Section 27 of RA 10625 states that respondents of primary data collection activities such as censuses and sample surveys are obliged to give truthful and complete answers to statistical inquiries. The gathering, consolidation, and analysis of such data shall likewise be done in the most truthful and credible manner.
Any individual who refuses or fails to give truthful and complete answers to statistical inquiries shall be imposed a penalty of one (1) year imprisonment and a fine of one hundred thousand pesos (P100,000.00).
What will be the assurance of the public that the information given to the census enumerator will not be used for other purposes?
All personnel involved in POPCEN 2015 are required to keep in STRICT CONFIDENCE any information obtained during the census that pertains to any particular household or person.
Section 26 of R.A. No. 10625 stipulates that individual data furnished by a respondent to statistical inquiries, surveys, and censuses of the PSA shall be considered privileged information and as such shall be inadmissible as evidence in any proceeding. The PSA releases data gathered from censuses only in the form of summaries or statistical tables, in which no reference to an individual, corporation, association, partnership, institution or business enterprise shall appear.
Likewise, Section 27 of RA No. 10625 states that a person, including parties within the PSA Board and the PSA, who breach the confidentiality of information, whether by carelessness, improper behavior, behavior with malicious intent, and use of confidential information for profit shall be liable to a fine of five thousand pesos (P5,000.00) to not more than ten thousand pesos (P10,000.00) and/or imprisonment of three months but not to exceed one year, subject to the degree of breach of information.
What data or information will be derived from the POPCEN 2015?
The following information will be asked in the four main census instruments or census forms that will be used during the census:
CP Form 1 – Listing Booklet
Basic Data Items
Name of the household head/Name or type of institution
Address of the household/institution
Number of household/institutional members by sex
CP Form 2 – Household Questionnaire
Demographic and socio-economic characteristics
Registration of deaths among household members
Selected housing characteristics
CP Form 4 – Institutional Population Questionnaire
Demographic and socio-economic characteristics
CP Form 5 – Barangay Schedule
Who will act as census enumerators and supervisors?
The PSA will hire enumerators (ENs) and team supervisors (TSs) during the census.
Each EN will be tasked to conduct the house-to-house interview. Each TS will supervise a group of ENs.
Regular personnel of the PSA, particularly the Statisticians of the Provincial Offices of the PSA will serve as Census Area Supervisors (CAS). The PSA will hire CAS to augment the number of regular personnel who will act as CAS. The CAS will supervise a group of TSs and ENs.
Other regular personnel from the PSA central office and field offices shall also act as supervisors during the census.
Census Reference Date
August 1, 2015 will be the census reference date for the POPCEN 2015, on which date the enumeration of the population in the Philippines shall refer. This means that all persons to be enumerated as members of a household or as residents of an institutional living quarter will be as of August 1, 2015.