Next Coming 2022 Census Set to be Conducted

The next coming Year 2022 population census will take place, with the new data platform providing more sources and high quality, the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) announced.

Dr. Konrad Pesendorfer, CEO of GASTAT, revealed during the press conference, recently held, to launch the statistical database platform, that the authority will use satellites, in the 2022 census, to take pictures, thanks to the satellite high accuracy.

We will also use detailed data from various sources, in addition to a field survey, and there will be a record of housing that will be updated annually, he added.

The population census is defined as a total process of collecting, processing, publishing and analyzing demographic, economic and social data, related to the population and its distribution over the different geographical areas, at a specific time.

Such specific chronological reference date for each of family member, shall be separate from the characteristics of other family members.

According to the latest population census conducted by the General Authority for Statistics, in 2010, the population of the Kingdom reached 27.14 million people, of whom 8.43 million are non-Saudis.

As for the population estimates issued each year, the General Authority for Statistics indicated that the population increased to 35.01 million people, 69.1% under the age of 40.

Breaking them down by sex, population estimates indicate that males are higher than females, as the number of males constitutes 57.8%, with about 20.23 million people, and females constitute 42.2%, about 14.78 million people.

Regarding the delay of the General Authority for Statistics issuing of the statistical yearbook for 2020, the CEO attributed the reason to the lack of some data from government agencies, and it will be issued soon.

With regard to the difference between the statistical database platform, freshly launched, by the authority and the old interactive statistics portal, Dr. Konrad Pesendorfer explained that the new one have more and different data sources, and also that the new one are characterized by higher data integration, higher quality and value.

It is worth noting that the General Authority for Statistics launched on November 17, 2021, under the patronage of the Minister of Economy and Planning, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Authority for Statistics, Faisal Al-Ibrahim.

The statistical database provides an interactive experience that take advantage of the search techniques with advanced features, such as linking with the technology (API) and the use of metadata and graphs, and it allows users of different groups to access the data and statistics, available from the General Authority for Statistics, view its descriptive data, and obtain and extract graphs and save them in the form User-friendly, as the platform aims to help and support data users, whether they are policy-makers in government agencies and the private sector, or researchers and general users, as well as providing statistical requirements for .regional and international organizations