Census
and Statistics
Dr Amara Satharasinghe
Deputy Director, Department of Census and Statistics. |
Is Sri Lanka on target for most of the
MDGs you measure?
To a large extent, even with the environment we don't have problems.
Do the MDGs apply to Sri Lanka, as they seem somewhat
Africa focused?
Globally they have agreed on 48 indicators, but countries have
the freedom to localize them. If you feel like an indicator
is not relevant, we'll use a proxy indicator. Take HIV/AIDS,
we don't have information but we're using proxy indicators like
condom usage, etc.
What are some specific environmental problems?
Solid fuels for one, we have high usage. However, you have to
decide what the targets are. If we have enough firewood, solid
fuels aren't an issue. It depends on the country. People are
arguing that if we have enough firewood why don't we use it.
Another issue is drinking water 66% have access. It's not good
enough, we have to have universal access.
How does Sri Lanka measure poverty?
We have our own national poverty line. The national poverty
line is something like Rs. 320/= We had a lot of problems in
deciding the national poverty line and last year we came to
a compromise. This will be the method of computing poverty.
We have poverty numbers for one year in 1990 and another year
in 2000 decade. Assuming a linear uniform declining trend we
calculated the value for 2015. It looks like we will not reach
that target, by about 6%. Because of the accelerated efforts
being made this trend may change.
There are a few indices on Poverty. The practice had been to
compile these numbers at the district level. We couldn't go
lower because we have to increase sample size. To go to Divisional
Secretariat (DS) level we need a sample size of about 100,000
households. What we did 6 months earlier was to apply a new
technique called small area submission technique. We combined
the census data and household income and expenditure level.
With this new technology these numbers were compiled at DS Division
level. Now we have data for all the areas except the North and
East.
How is data collected generally?
Data collection comes from various surveys, conducted by out
own field staff. In each district there is a district office.
That office is staffed by a Deputy Director or a Senior Statistician,
supported by multiple officers. For special areas like Education
and Health we have units in those ministries.
You can see things if you compile numbers for those areas
separately. In our studies we color the whole Colombo district
in green, which is wrong. There are pockets. That is why we
wanted to study poverty at DS Division level.
How effective is this data at influencing policy and
politicians?
For the first time in history the government allocated budget
based on the findings of this study. Prior to this they didn't
have evidence or logic based on a scientific study. Now they
can go and show it anywhere. If you don't have any logic then
people will not accept it. This poverty map was the single
statistical product that reached the widest audience in a
short amount of time. Now statistics are more effective in
influencing policy. The poverty map is a good example. The
trend is being developed.
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