The first phase of Egypt's new census, which included counting buildings, will be completed on Monday. The second phase will start on April 10 with 40,000 employees participating in the process to collect data.
The first electronic counting of the population started on January 21, said Major General abu Bakr al-Guindy, head of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS). This was a preliminary phase to identify the areas for recording the census through digital maps that had been prepared over the past three years. Each area and building were given a number.
During a meeting with several writers and editors-in-chief on Sunday, Guindy said the first phase started on February 1. The goal was to count an estimated 16 million buildings including 45 million housing units.
The third phase will include the counting of establishments. Preliminary results indicated 20 million housing units, marking 45 percent of the total number of units; 3.2 million work units (7.8 percent); 34,000 units for both housing and offices (0.8 percent).
The preliminary results of the census also recorded 10 million housing units and apartments as being closed or unoccupied. This includes 935,000 units that are unoccupied due to the owner travelling (2.27 percent); 3.16 million units are unoccupied as the owner lives elsewhere (7.76 percent); 4.9 million apartments are empty but finished (11.8 percent); 4.3 million apartments are empty but not finished (10.36 percent); 580,000 units need restoration; 33,000 units were ordered to be demolished; 2.3 million are either empty or closed; and 1.4 million units were categorized under "other".
Guindy said all this data is still in the preliminary stages as the census is not yet finalized. He added that the status of any unit could change in the second phase from closed to unhabited, in the case that residents are available in the second visit or if they register themselves electronically.
He urged people who did not record their status in the first phase of the census to contact CAPMAS.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
