DHAKA, Dec 9, 2024 (BSS) - Country's fourth Economic Census is set to begin
tomorrow across the country in a bid to gain a detail perception about the
structural changes of the country's economy that took place with the passage
of time.

The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) revealed this at a press briefing
held at its auditorium in the capital's Agargaon area today.

The census will be conducted nationwide from December 10 to 26, utilising a
fully digital system. The slogan of the Economic Census 2024 is "Orthonoitik
Shumarite Tottho Din, Notun Bangladesh Binirmane Ongsho Nin".

Statistics and Informatics Division Secretary Md Mahbub Hossain, Bangladesh
Bureau of Statistics (BBS) Director General (DG) Mohammad Mizanur Rahman,
Economic Census Project Director and Additional Secretary SM Shakil Akhter,
Statistics Division Joint Secretary Dr Dipankar Roy spoke at the press
briefing while Economic Census Deputy Project Director Mizanur Rahman gave an
overview on the overall aspects of the census.

The main objectives of the Economic Census are to gain insights into
structural changes in the economy over time, determining structure of non-
farm economic activities, Providing institutional data, Providing fundamental
information about organisations engaged in economic activities categorised by
type, Estimating the workforce involved in economic activities and
understanding their classifications, Assessing the facilities available in
industries or businesses, Categorising industries and businesses based on
capital investment and workforce structure and Supplying updated data to
policymakers, planners, researchers and other stakeholders for industrial
development.

Md Mahbub Hossain, secretary of the Statistics and Informatics Division, said
this Economic Census would be fully paperless for which there would be no
scope for making interferences by others.

Digital maps have been created using Geographic Information System (GIS) and
geo-coding to ensure the smooth execution of census activities, he said.

The Secretary informed that identity cards have already been provided to the
enumerators so that they could easily get access to the census units.

Mahbub also urged all concerned to ensure their active participation and
cooperation to make this Economic Census a success.

Project Director SM Shakil Akhter informed that on completion of the main
economic census operations, they would be able to provide a report at the end
of January 2025.

He informed that some 95,000 enumerators, who have been selected for this
census, are skilled and experienced.

A total of 140,000 tabs have been prepared for the Economic Census after
taking those from the already completed Population Census operations while
some 1.13 lakh tabs remained kept as stand by.

Answering to a question, Joint Secretary Dr Dipankar Roy said this census has
introduced income, expenditure and profits of the units while the operations
of the e-commerce would also come under this.

He said one enumerator would bring information about 150 units while they
could also gather information about the new establishments within their
jurisdiction.

Dipankar said some 1.22 crore economic households would be covered under this
census while no economic activity would be left out from the census even the
mobile units like vegetable vendors in vans would also be included.

Replying to another question, he said a Post Enumeration Check (PEC) would be
conducted after the Economic Census where the flaws if any found any would be
rectified.

This year's Census includes some new features, such as collecting data on
foreign nationals working in Bangladesh and gathering information about
digital or e-commerce businesses.

All economic units in the country will be covered. Through some 70 questions,
the census will address social and environmental aspects, identify
challenges, and evaluate ICT integration in production processes. It will
also analyse institutions' income, expenditure, and profitability.

For the census, the country has been divided into 13 divisions, which include
130 districts, 520 upazilas, 2,600 zones, 19,000 supervisory areas, and
95,000 enumeration areas.

The budget of the three-year Economic Census project is Taka 579 crore.

As the national statistical agency, the BBS conducts population,
agricultural, and economic censuses.

The country's first Economic Census took place in 1986, followed by the
second one held in 2001 and in 2003 in phases. The third Economic Census was
conducted in 2013.