Should the next South African census be register-based?

摘要

All governments need detailed infor- mation on their populations to design and run their health systems effectively. Most countries collect a large part of these data through a census; an exer- cise often held once every decade that aims to count every inhabitant of every household. With growing populations, the census becomes progressively more difficult and costly. Some countries are moving towards an alternative; combin- ing data from existing population-based registers – such as those that colle ct births, deaths and addresses – with data from other registers, such as employ- ment and education.