Iraq aims to conduct census in single day

BAGHDAD — Iraq is planning to send 150,000 schoolteachers on a one-day mission to knock on every door and conduct the first census since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Iraq, like many nations, has carried out an official count of its citizens every decade.

But the new government has decided that existing Saddam-era data is so outdated and selective that it is willing to allocate $60 million to $100 million to update the information.

The 1997 census did not count the three Kurdish provinces then separated by the no-fly zone, nor an estimated 4 million Iraqi refugees.

This also was the height of the “Arabization” program, in which Kurds, Turkmen and other minorities were forced to list their ethnicity as “Arab” or risk losing their homes, jobs or lives.

“In the old days, the census was conducted for the interests of the government,” said Nuha Yousif, census manager in Iraq’s Ministry of Planning.

“People will want to participate in the census because they know that this time it is information to build the new Iraq,” she said.

The census, slated for Oct. 12, will help determine voter rolls for elections, which are to take place in January.

It requires the nation to grind to a halt for a day, with children staying home and most people taking a day off from work.

The planned exercise is intriguing both for what its organizers will include and for what they will leave out.

For example, the Ministry of Planning will ask about religion, but will not break Muslims down by Shi’ites, Sunnis or other sects. Nor will the ministry harvest data about salaries, sexual orientation or country of origin for foreigners.

To be sure, an accurate, timely and undisputed accounting of Iraq’s religions and ethnic groups could help settle lingering land disputes and clarify the relative power of political parties and religious leaders as the country plunges into its first real election.

It could also give the Iraqi people, for the first time, a clear and unbiased picture of what their highly diverse nation looks like in terms of demographics, education, longevity and quality of life.

Muhammad Al-Ma’moorey, assistant dean of Baghdad University’s College of Administration and Economics, said a legitimate economic census could attract foreign investors and World Bank support by pinpointing the country’s strengths and needs.

But skeptics warn that the country is not yet stable and say that too-precise information could exacerbate divisive religion-driven politics and further marginalize minorities.

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