A self-counting system for the Sharjah Census 2015 will be made available to all residents of the emirate from December 1 the Department of Statistics and Community Development (DSCD) has announced. This follows the completion of the data gathering phase of the census on November 19.

Being held under the slogan 'For a better tomorrow' the census will provide accurate and reliable statistical data to be used for the emirate's development.

Shaikh Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Thani Chairman of the Higher Committee for the Sharjah Census 2015 and Chairman of the DSCD said this phase will be launched by sending text messages including a user name and password to the Sharjah residents who registered during the data gathering phase. Those who wish to complete the survey themselves can do so through online applications available on www.sharjahcensus.ae on Tuesday.

"Self-counting will be open to all residents in Sharjah even those who originally preferred the conventional method carried out by researchers through visits to their homes. Residents who chose the conventional counting method will also have the chance to use the self-counting system from December 1 to 5. After this date researchers will visit families that did not register electronically in order to conclude the census operations" said Shaikh Mohammed bin Abdullah.

He said the self-counting option eliminates the need for researchers to visit residents at their homes.

"The census project is a national obligation for the citizens and residents of Sharjah and everyone should cooperate with the researchers and observers to complete it. No one in Sharjah can be excluded from the census ... The census results will serve everyone in the emirate and help ensure its continued growth success and prosperity. Residents should keep in mind that their data is only being used for measuring the size growth and needs of the emirate."

Shaikh Mohammed bin Abdullah assured residents that the data will be kept confidential and will not be used for any other purpose.

Multilingual researchers

Shaikh Mohammed Al Thani said the researchers are fluent in Arabic English Urdu Hindi Filipino Russian Chinese Bengali French German and Spanish.

Initially the researchers met with families and asked about the name of the father the number of family members contact information and whether the family wished to use the self-counting system and register electronically.

"A (large number) ... of residents (55 per cent) responded favourably to the online method of self-counting" he said. "The census committee will continue to launch awareness and advertising campaigns in the coming period to raise public awareness about the importance of participation. (It will) ... invite people to register electronically."

The data gathering phase of the census provided preliminary data and figures which determined the scope and distribution of work for the researchers in the counting stage.