Don’t count it out
Government bean-counters propose two new ways to count the population
EVERY ten years since 1801 the British government has conducted a census, counting every man, woman and child. Is this elaborate and costly exercise still necessary? The most recent census, conducted in 2011, cost £480m ($770m)—a 35% increase in real terms over the 2001 census. On September 23rd the Office for National Statistics (ONS) began a three-month public consultation to evaluate two new ways to count the population.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Don’t count it out”
From the September 28th 2013 edition
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