Census Meeting – New Caledonia
Feb 2008
DRS Census Experience
Andy Tye
International Manager, DRS
Introduction

Established in 1969

London Stock market listed company

Based in Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire)
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Data capture from paper
DRS Markets
 Market Place
 UK & Europe
 Africa
 Asia
 Middle East
 North America
(Mexico)
 Sectors
 Education
 Elections
 Voter Registration
 Census
DRS World Wide Presence 2008
Some Recent Census Projects

Australia Census 1996 (20M Pop)– DRS OMR Scanners
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Zambia Census 2000 (11M Pop) – Scanners, forms, software, training

Bangladesh Census 2000 (144M Pop) – Scanners, training, software

Tanzania Census 2002 (36M Pop) – 18 Scanners, forms, software,
training

Cameroon Census 2003 (16M Pop) – Supply of 6 Million Census
booklets

Nigeria census 2006 (128M Pop) - more than 50 million DRS booklets
supplied (100 million sheets >600 tonnes of forms)

Sudan Pilot census 2007 (40M Pop) - Scanners, forms, software,
training

Ethiopia census 2007 (77M Pop) - 23 Million DRS booklets Supplied,
11 PS900 Scanners
Tanzania Census 2002
 Nov 2001 :
 DRS 100K pilot, end to end
Tanzania Census 2002
 Aug 2002 – Census period
 35K enumerators
 18M DRS OMR census forms
 3.5M long and 14.5M short
Tanzania Census 2002
Short Form - 14.5M Supplied
Tanzania Census 2002
Long Form (A3 folded form – 4 sides of A4) - 3.5M Supplied
Front Page
Rear Page
Tanzania Census 2002
 Aug 2002 – Census period
 Sept 2002 start scanning (18 DRS
Scanners)
 Jan 2003 – Announcement of
preliminary results
Census Projects and Experience
 Nigeria 2006
 Ethiopia 2007
 Sudan 2007/8
Census Projects
Nigeria census 2006
 Previous headcounts have ranged from 126 million to 150 million
people.
 The National Planning Commission of Nigeria contracted DRS to
design and optimise the census questionnaires to achieve the
most accurate and transparent results possible. The forms
featured 19 personal questions, 16 household questions, as well
as space for fingerprints and signatures.
 DRS was also awarded the contract to print the census
questionnaires. In total more than 50 million forms were
produced, equating to more than 550 tonnes of paper which were
shipped from the UK to locations across Nigeria.
Census Projects
Ethiopia census 2007



Ethiopia is the second most populous country in Africa with an
estimated population of 77.1 people. This will be Ethiopia’s third
Population census
The census, which is the single largest administrative exercise in Africa
started on 29th May 2007 and was completed in seven regional states
and two city administrations (Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa) within the
first nine days.
The counting of the population in Afar and Somali regions, where most
of the people are nomadic, was planned to take place later in 2007,
when the rains were over.
Census Projects
Ethiopia census 2007 Continued….
 The Central Statistical Agency (CSA) of Ethiopia commissioned
DRS to provide fully optimised census forms and technology to
process the census data. The Data capture contract was funded
by UNDP
 DRS designed, printed and shipped 23 million census booklets to
Ethiopia for the enumeration exercise, along with 11 of its own
range of high-speed PhotoScribe® PS900 Series scanners &
bespoke software. Key correction of data is undertaken from
image.
 DRS also supplied forms, scanners, software, training and
Support for the Pilot census for Ethiopia
Census Projects
Sudan Pilot census 2007
 Pilot was in preperation for the 5th Population Census of Sudan.
 The Pilot Census took place in April 2007 & tested the whole census
process, including census field logistics, questionnaire design, data
processing and tabulation.
 DRS were contracted to supply scanning technology, bespoke software,
full staff training and 18,000 specially designed forms for the pilot project.
 Both Short and long forms were used
Census Projects
Sudan census 2008
 The delivery of this census is key for organising the mid-term general
elections.
 Census enumeration is due to start in April 2008.
 Scanning in 7 centres 1 in Juba and 6 in Khartoum with at total of 12
scanners the data will be downloaded and transferred to one central
centre in Khartoum, for key correction.
 Estimated time to completion 8 – 10 weeks.
 10.4M forms will be supplied. Both Short and long forms will used as per
the Pilot census
Census Projects
Sudan census 2008
Sudan Census - Rounded up numbers of forms to be printed by region
Region
Questionnaires
SF Arabic
SF English
North Sudan
8173000
6476000
South Sudan
2235000
503000
1508000
Sudan
10408000
6979000
1508000
LF Nomads Arabic
LF Arabic
879000
818000
879000
LF English
56000
168000
874000
168000
Recent Contract Award - Malawi
 Malawi population ~12M
 10,000 English long forms for a pilot in
March 08
 6 million English long forms for the
census data capture in June 08
 Scanning on 12 scanners in one central
location starting July, estimated time to
completion 6 – 8 weeks
Summary
Data capture from paper:
 Spend time getting the form right
 Do Not underestimate the IT skills and
preparation resources needed
 Prepare & Optimise with a Pilot
 Train the enumerators
 Choose a supplier with experience
Thank you for listening
Do you have any questions?