Technological Innovation

A census of population is considered as the biggest challenge for a Statistical Office due to the large volume of data collected and the organization needed to coordinate the work of a large number of people employed. Traditionally, a census is considered as a good opportunity to implement new methods and techniques that will form the basis for carrying out subsequent surveys.

Cyprus Blaise Integrated Census System 2021 (CY-BICS2021)

Based on the success of the awarded innovative system Cyprus Blaise Integrated Census System (CY-BICS) developed for the needs of the Census of Population of 2011, the Statistical Service in cooperation with Statistics Netherlands developed the upgraded CY-BICS2021. The aim of CY-BICS2021 is twofold. First, to capture the census data by applying either the Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) method or the Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) and second, to incorporate innovative and highly automated technologies for the production of accurate data quickly and efficiently at a low cost. All necessary measures are taken for the protection of all data collected.

CY-BICS2021 consists of four applications. First, the enumerator application is installed on the tablets and facilitates the data capture. All the data collected are transferred in real time through the internet to the central database. The application is user friendly and incorporates useful features for enumerators such as the display of their current position in maps and in relation to the enumeration block they have to cover. Second, the supervisor application allows the editing of the completed questionnaires as well as the monitoring of coverage. Third, with the district officer application the responsible Statistical Service officers can monitor the progress of data collection at the district level and finally, with the central application the management of the Statistical Service follows the progress at country level.

Geographic Information System (G.I.S)

Location is a key feature of almost all official statistics produced by the Statistical Service. Therefore, the Statistical Service has invested in the creation of a Geographical Information System (G.I.S) for the purpose of collecting, storing, managing, analyzing and presenting information where spatial data can be integrated with descriptive data.

In order to optimally organize the Census of Population and Housing of 2021, the Statistical Service undertook the updating of the existing digitized road network, which is maintained by the Department of Lands and Surveys (DLS), and of the digitized enumeration blocks in the government-controlled areas of Cyprus as created for the Census 2011. As a result, the Statistical Service integrated into the existing road network the naming and the official coding that is used. In addition, a complete GIS was created by acquiring the geographical data related to the borders of the Districts, the Municipalities and Communities, the Quarters and the Postal Codes as well as the aerial photographs from the DLS.

This system facilitates the organization and implementation of the Census by improving the data collection process and ensuring the complete and accurate geographical coverage. Furthermore, it provides a dynamic mean of displaying the results in the form of thematic maps and enables the identification of trends of important demographic and social indicators at geographic level.

It is worth noting that during the Census of Population and Housing of 2021, the enumerators will record the location (geographical coordinates) of each housing unit and institution on the electronic device. The location of each housing unit and institution will be linked to the streets and enumeration blocks. Therefore, all statistical data will be linked to the geographical background available to the Statistical Service. This will facilitate the production and dissemination of selected topics of the Population and Housing Census 2021 geocoded to a 1 km2 grid in accordance with the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1799.