Prime Minister Gaston Browne has officially launched the 2025 National Census, naming June 25 as Census Day when the numeration of all residents of Antigua and Barbuda will commence.
In his message, PM Browne however underscored the need for the nation to coalesce around the national census as it is a vital exercise with huge developmental imperatives.
The prime minister wants all residents of Antigua and Barbuda to participate in the census, noting that it is not a political issue, but rather, it is a critical national issue with implications for planning, international importance and even to help map things such as the prevalence of certain diseases.
Explaining that everyone should participate regardless of their political persuasion, the prime minister expressed disappointment that the Leader of the Opposition, who was invited to take part in the launch exercise, did not attend nor did he dispatch an excuse.
“I am not doing this to shame the Leader of the Opposition, but when you have such an important exercise in which we need to signal to the entire population the need for it. It is very important for us to come together, to participate, to come join the efforts, to make sure that each resident in this country participates in the Census. It is important that we send a signal of full support coming from all areas, individuals responsible for all political parties, especially the main opposition and the government, for us to show that we are in full support of this very important exercise,” PM Browne further explained.
The prime minister emphasized that it is important that there is an accurate count. “I mean, if for example, individuals decide not to participate because they may think that it is a partisan exercise that is promoted by the Labour Party and not jointly by the main opposition and the Labour Party, then clearly we cannot undermine the results of the Census. And if we have Census data that is not accurate, it has significant implications for the state. It would mean that all of these statistics that we promote, that they are inaccurate,” he outlined.
Inaccurate data has implications for healthcare planning, the calculations of the per capita income, the population size, as well as such important data as morbidity and mortality rates of the country.
PM Browne also appealed to the non-national communities to participate regardless of their status in the country noting that census officers are not allowed to share their status information with anyone outside of those involved in the census.
