Measurement frameworks

The single most important issue in obtaining reliable information on economic topics in a population census is to accurately determine the activity status of the population: who is economically active and who is not? Statistics on the size and composition of the two groups are fundamental to formulating almost all economic and social policies and related planning and research. Moreover, most economic characteristics in the census are obtained only for the economically active; therefore the item(s) used to identify activity status are the key to the whole block of economic items. Omissions and misclassifications of persons can have a major impact on a broad range of census data pertaining to the socio-economic situation of the population.

Related Subject(s): Population and Demography