The Central Statistical Office (CSO) has launched the 2007 Economic Census.
Start-up activities of the Economic Census include a pre-test survey carried out in March 2007 covering 3 districts in Lusaka and Northern provinces. The next start-up activity of the Economic Census is a pilot survey to cover 25 percent of the 72 districts in Zambia. This is scheduled to take place in the second and third week of May 2007. After the pilot survey, all major stakeholders from the public and private sectors will be called upon to deliberate on the outcomes before the main Census is launched in June 2007. The main Economic Census will cover all the 72 districts of Zambia.
The Economic Census, which is being carried out for the first time in Zambia, will provide a detailed portrait of the nation’s economy, from the national to the local level. It will measure all economic activities for the calendar years 2006 and 2007.
The Economic Census will be carried out every five years.
The Economic Census will be done in two phases:
Economic Census statistics shall be collected primarily from establishments and published by aggregation of establishments. All establishments (large, medium, small, micro, formal and informal) in Zambia will be enumerated. An establishment is defined as any entity where a good or service is produced or provided. It can be an individual person, a group of persons or a firm/company/institution/organization.
Many companies own or control more than one establishment. Those establishments may be in different geographical areas and may be engaged in different kinds of business. The Economic Census will collect separate information for each establishment.
The Economic Census will collect comprehensive data from all the sectors of the economy, which will enable CSO to, among other things,
The Economic Census will also provide benchmark statistics that will serve as a major source of facts about the structure and functions of the Zambian economy, and benchmark data for other economic indicators.
The 2007 Economic Census will include many “firsts”, such as the comprehensive measurement of the output of “new” industries that include mobile phone and internet service providers; computer and other business services; market stalls and other smallscale business owners in the informal sector.
The Economic Census will cover all sectors of the economy including Agriculture; Mining; Manufacturing; Construction; Trading; Tourism; Real Estate; Financial Intermediaries (Banks & non-banks); Education; Health; Religious institutions and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs); and the public sector (Local Government, Central Government, and parastatals).
The Economic Census is being carried out under the provisions of the Census and Statistics Act Chapter 127 of the Laws of Zambia. The law requires firms to respond and specifies penalties for firms that fail to report. The law also requires the CSO to maintain confidentiality. No data are published that could reveal the identity or activity of any individual or business. The data so collected will be used for statistical purposes only and no other use.