11.8 million Malaysians enumerated - Chief Statistician

KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 11.8 million out of 32.7 million Malaysians or 36.1 per cent were enumerated under the Malaysia Population and Housing Census (Census 2020) exercise as of yesterday.

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said Census 2020 was being conducted via the e-Census and face-to-face interviews nationwide.

"People can take advantage of both methods now. The face-to-face interviews started in early March and will run until the end of June," he said when appearing as a guest on Bernama TV's Ruang Bicara programme here, last night.

He said Putrajaya recorded the highest number of people enumerated at 96.5 per cent followed by Johor (53.7 per cent), Perak (51.5 per cent), Perlis (49.8 per cent) and Melaka (44.4 per cent).

"Other states, Kelantan (43.9 per cent), Penang (42.6 per cent), Negeri Sembilan (42 per cent), Terengganu (41.8 per cent), Selangor (34.6 per cent), Kedah (33.5 per cent) and Kuala Lumpur (32.8 per cent)," he said.

Mohd Uzir, who is also the 2020 Census Commissioner, revealed that the four states that recorded the lowest number of people enumerated due to the constraints faced at the initial stage were Sabah (14.6 per cent), Labuan (20.5 per cent), Sarawak (22 per cent) and Pahang (26.6 per cent).

He said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) expected that the exercise would be fully completed by June this year, adding that a total of 6,500 experienced and skilled enumerators had been mobilised nationwide to conduct the face-to-face interviews.

He said each enumerator was provided with an identification card and would comply with the standard operating procedures to curb the COVID-19 outbreak.

-- BERNAMA