SINCE the Malaysia Population and Housing Census 2020 started on July 7, the number of households using the e-Census form to fill in their information has not reached one million, said chief statistician Mohd Uzir Mahidin.

He said the Statistics Department had aimed for 10 million people to use the online system in the first phase of Census 2020, which ends on September 30.

To encourage more people to use the e-Census, he said there is a need to increase publicity efforts, such as promoting it through social media and engaging celebrities with a high number of followers to spread awareness.

Uzir, who is also the Census 2020 commissioner, also said the long census period was also causing people to procrastinate.

“Avoid delaying because you don’t want to experience a traffic jam on the e-Census website,” he said after launching the Conference on the Future of Work for Tourism Sector in Malaysia (Post-Covid-19) in Putrajaya today.

The census project, which is in its sixth edition, involves about 32.7 million people and nine million homes, and will be carried out in two phases.

The first phase is being implemented through the e-Census, while the second phase, using the face-to-face interview method, will be from October 7 to 24.

Uzir said the Statistics Department needed about 100,000 enumerators to carry out the second phase of Census 2020.

“Currently, we have about 20,000 to 30,000 enumerators and we need about 100,000 people. Anyone who is interested can apply at the Census 2020 website,” he said. – Bernama, August 12, 2020.