Census Handbook
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Using the 2001 Census Approaches to analysing data A collaboration between Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) Published by Statistics South Africa Private Bag X44 Pretoria 0001 © Statistics South Africa, and the Human Sciences Research Council, 2007 Users may apply or process this data, provided Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) are acknowledged as the original source of the data; that it is specified that the application and/or analysis is the result of the user's independent processing of the data; and that neither the basic data nor any reprocessed version or application thereof may be sold or offered for sale in any form whatsoever without prior permission from Stats SA and HSRC. Using the 2001 Census: Approaches to analysing data / Statistics South Africa. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa, 2007 244 p ISBN 978-0-621-37259-5 Acknowledgements The HSRC acknowledges the following researchers for their research work and contribution to the chapters indicated: Craig A. Schwabe (Mapping the 2001 Census); Pieter Kok (Migration studies based on the 1996 and 2001 Census data); Andrew Paterson (The 2001 Census and education in South Africa); Johan Erasmus (The labour force) and Eric O. Udjo (Use of Census 2001 demographic variables in decision making, planning and development). Stats SA acknowledges everyone who has contributed to the publication, including fieldworkers, data processors, analysts to this publication and members of the South African public whose participation culminated in the consolidation of the census data. Stats SA Library Cataloguing-in-Publication (CIP) Data 1. Population census – South Africa 2. Demographic variables – South Africa 3. Education – (South Africa) 4. Labour force – (South Africa) 5. Migration – (South Africa) I. Statistics South Africa (LCSH 16) This report is only available on the Stats SA website: www.statssa.gov.za and the HSRC website: www.hsrc.ac.za Contents Foreword 4 Preface 6 Chapter 1: What is a population census? 8 Chapter 2: Historical development of census taking in South Africa 17 Chapter 3: Census dissemination 30 Chapter 4: Census geography 43 Chapter 5: Mapping the 2001 Census 60 Chapter 6: Migration studies based on the 1996 and 2001 Census data 80 Chapter 7: The 2001 Census and education in South Africa 108 Chapter 8: The labour force 127 Chapter 9: Estimation of fertility and mortality rates from Census 2001 data 140 Chapter 10: Use of Census 2001 demographic variables in decision making, planning and development 150 Chapter 11: Gender 163 Chapter 12: Provision of basic services 178 Annexure 1: Community Profiles Training Document 190 Annexure 2: Basic functionality of SuperTABLE 192 3 Foreword I am proud to introduce the census users’ handbook, produced through a partnership between Statistics South Africa and the Human Sciences Research Council. How do we place a value on the information produced through the undertaking of a population census? The price tag of the last two recent censuses conducted, i.e. the cost to South African tax payers, we know to have been R419 million and R987 million respectively. It is obvious – particularly with the information and communication technologies we have at our fingertips today – that while it is extremely costly to produce information, it is extremely cheap to reproduce information. While information economists might put forward different approaches to how we can quantify the value of information in general, there cannot be much argument against the point that the value of information is derived from it being utilised. Through publishing this book, which is demonstrating how others have used census data, together with the provision of information on how the data were collected, we hope to broaden and deepen the use of census data. Due to funding constraints, the flagship Census ’96 data product, SuperCross, which enabled users to tabulate and cross-tabulate census data for the whole or parts of the country, and get this into the format of their choice; could not be given free of charge. We had to charge users R8 000 (for the single-user license / one per province) and up to R400 000 (for the multi-user license, including the complete dataset). This tool provided users with census data, from enumeration to provincial level, including the metadata. The SuperCross software had a built-in charting and mapping functionality. We sold 219 copies of the 1996 SuperCross package and gave away free copies after 1999. With better funding in 2003, the equivalent Census 2001 product was made available free of charge to the public sector and educational institutions – and we supported the installation and training on the use of the product on computers in over 1 400 organisations. And six years on after Census 2001– and particularly in the last 12 months ending 1 July 2007 – over 900 users have downloaded Census in Brief 2001 from our website. So the utilisation of census data has no doubt increased - but there could still be more who could potentially benefit from using this data. More use means 4 deriving more value from the information collected through the costly exercise of census taking. And so, this is why I am proud to introduce the census users’ handbook, which itself is a product resulting from collaboration between the producers and key users of census data. I trust that this will encourage the further exploitation of census data – not only as an independent information source, but also to enrich the interpretation and understanding of information from other sources. Pali Lehohla Statistician-General (Stats SA) 5 Preface The importance of census data in addressing societal needs, developing policy, implementing development strategies and monitoring the progress of government programmes is well documented. In fact, it is the opinion of many international researchers and scholars that census data or the socio-economic information that can be extracted from such data is one of the most important data sets that a country needs in addressing the basic needs of its people and focusing its attention on achieving the objectives stipulated within national policies. From policies such as the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) that was implemented in 1994 by the newly-elected democratic government to improve the quality of life and standard of living of all people in South Africa, through to the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), which is an integrated strategy to bring about the holistic socio-economic development of the African continent to Agenda 21, which is a global strategy to achieve sustainable development; the need for socio-economic data emanating from national censuses is seen as being core to the achievement of these policy’s goals and objectives. The intention of this publication is, therefore, to provide a better understanding of what variables are incorporated into census questionnaires, such as the 1996 and 2001 censuses conducted in South Africa; what information can be derived from such data when used to populate various indicators and for what applications the census data can be used. By providing such a reference manual it is hoped that policy and decision-makers, officials at all three tiers of government, planners, non-government organisations, research institutions, private businesses and the communities of South Africa will be better informed about the value of census data and that they will be greatly encouraged to use it in their decision-making. Although the publication focuses mainly on the 2001 census, the chapters on the different thematic components are equally applicable census conducted in the past and future. The approach that has been taken to provide this information was to request the assistance of researchers at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) and Statistics South Africa to provide their specialist insight into the different chapters contained in this manual. This publication is seen as a foundation upon which the knowledge of using census data will be built upon and that in years to come will see an update to reflect on the progress that has been made in the analysis and use of this information for decision- making purposes. South Africa remains one of the few countries in Africa that has not only conducted regular censuses but has progressed to incorporate the enumerator area boundaries and census attributes into Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for the planning of its future censuses and to disseminate the results. This progressive approach has seen the production of many different products from both the 1996 and 2001 6 censuses. Furthermore, access to information from the censuses has been dramatically improved by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) adopting a policy of making the data freely available in relatively easy-to-use cross tabulation software that enables users to analyse and extract a wealth of information. It is hoped that this first census users’ manual will do justice to what has been achieved with censuses in South Africa and that a new wave of users will spring up from the insights that are contained in the different chapters. The manual has 12 chapters that provide insights into how censuses are conducted and what products have emanated from the 1996 and 2001 censuses. Emphasis is also placed on the need to be able to integrate the census data with other layers of information to enable a more holistic perspective of South Africa for better decision- making purposes. One of the mechanisms by which these layers of information can be effectively integrated is by the use of GIS technology. Chapter 4 gives a detailed account of how the geography of the census is established. The next chapter examines the use of GIS as a tool for visualising census data and provides several examples of how best to accomplish this.