Talk:Census

Modern implementations
I think this section as a whole, although useful, contains too much information to be posted in the main article about census. I think it would be better to move this section to its own article for people that really need to know what is every country in the world doing. 190.103.77.181 (talk) 13:11, 14 November 2012 (UTC)


 * I've moved to the list to Population and housing censuses by country. This article will now need some work to recover from the split, but it seems everyone agrees that it's something that had to be done. -- zzuuzz (talk) 22:34, 10 December 2012 (UTC)

I wonder whether this needs an edit
I wonder whether this page needs an edit linking to wikinews. There was much about the census on the Radio Four news tonight, saying that there were now a record number of people from outside the United Kingdom who were resident in the United Kingdom, and the number of people who had described themselves as Christians had fallen; although Wikipedia is not newspaper, these comments could still go in wikinews. ACEOREVIVED (talk) 20:40, 11 December 2012 (UTC)


 * Not here. This is a article about censuses in general, while these are very detailed facts arising out of one country's census conducted in a specific year. Inclusion of these facts on Wikipedia should rather be considered at Census in the United Kingdom or moreso United Kingdom Census 2011. Hwy43 (talk) 02:19, 12 December 2012 (UTC)

Quality Scale
Thanks for reviewing for a C-Class rating. Any feedback on what needs to improve? My feeling is there needs to be work on the content in terms of things which aren't covered. If there are issues with the style or clarity of what is here, some explanation/pointers would be useful.Ca3tki (talk) 10:00, 21 December 2012 (UTC)


 * Well, I think it has the right structure at this stage. I don't like the content of the initial part but that is partly because of some of this appearing elsewhere in the article. Any suggestions about the content or ordering of sections would be really useful. Ca3tki (talk) 22:24, 18 January 2013 (UTC)

First paragraph
The introduction havers about the subject. While it is important to allow that census is more general than people, in practice it is people we are talking about. My view is that we should get to that more directly but also remove some specific content from the introduction and introduce a new section much later about political issues. Ca3tki (talk) 16:40, 11 February 2013 (UTC)

It has been a while but I have made some amendments to the lead section. Ca3tki (talk) 15:55, 31 January 2015 (UTC)

Specific Country Examples and US Focus
There are a number of contributions relying on terminology and examples specifically from the US. As there are separate pages for modern implementation and individual US censuses these are not relevant to this article and should be replaced with international conventions and appropriate citations.Ca3tki (talk) 15:54, 31 January 2015 (UTC)

Broken URL
http://tools.wmflabs.org/bibleversefinder/?book=2%20Chronicles&verse=2:17&src=! (URL found in this article) does not work. Syced (talk) 16:12, 27 September 2015 (UTC)

First two historical examples
The earliest Greek example appears to be legendary. There is a source for this, but in the free excerpt from the article it refers to a "legendary" king of Athens named Cecrops around 1600 BCE (apparently from Eusebius around 300 AD). This should either be marked as mythical or removed. The Egyptian example is also unsourced; considering the alleged date is before 3000 BCE, I would be surprised if this also isn't legendary.69.165.234.93 (talk) 23:24, 30 December 2015 (UTC)

Development
It is not obvious to me that a section on development is relevant to census in general. The aspiration that cesus data empowers local communities is laudable but not accurate. It also does not identify how census would do that where a sample survey does not. It makes more sense to me to role an aspect of development into the uses section. Ca3tki (talk) 14:56, 12 February 2017 (UTC)

WP:ERA
This edit established the usage of the page as. Kindly maintain it consistently pending a new consensus to the contrary. — Llywelyn II   10:54, 2 April 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 5 external links on Census. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20111219103126/http://www.680news.com/radio/680news/article/80353--text-of-munir-sheikh-s-resignation-statement to http://www.680news.com/radio/680news/article/80353--text-of-munir-sheikh-s-resignation-statement
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20101123032526/http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=39&catid=2&subcatid=2 to http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=39&catid=2&subcatid=2
 * Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/miscellaneous/000507.html
 * Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/spring_2002_soundex_projects.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20160507023856/http://www.histpop.org/ to http://www.histpop.org/

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 21:17, 1 August 2017 (UTC)

Census circles
What are census circles, mentioned under "Enumeration strategies"? Batternut (talk) 15:03, 20 October 2017 (UTC)


 * "In census circles" means amongst people who know about/work on censuses. "In...circles" is a fairly common phrase, but perhaps not one which is obvious to non-native speakers of English? Cordless Larry (talk) 18:01, 20 October 2017 (UTC)


 * Oh, ho ho. I must confess I am a native English speaker, and am indeed familiar with the expression. My trouble was, I was looking for a explanation of "circles" as used in the Indian census, eg Circles in Dibrugarh District, Assam and, in the depths of my own head, expected that kind of usage here too. lmao. I suspect I shall have to ask at 2011 Census of India. Thanks... Batternut (talk) 19:34, 20 October 2017 (UTC)


 * Answering my own question, it seems that census circles are typically administration circles, tehsils (aka talukas) or similar. They may be grouped together into community development blocks (aka rural development blocks), sometimes one-to-one. Batternut (talk) 18:55, 28 December 2017 (UTC)

Article as it is now blurs some distinctions
Most censuses conducted before the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century were for specific limited purposes (to tabulate the able-bodied adult male population which could be called up for military purposes, or most commonly for purposes of taxation, etc. etc.). These did not generally arrive at a single number representing the total population of a jurisdiction, since such wasn't necessary or even useful to their particular purposes. I think that the U.S. census of 1790 and the U.K. census of 1801 were among the first "censuses of the general population" (i.e. systematic overall headcounts) conducted over a wide geographical area... AnonMoos (talk) 00:03, 21 September 2018 (UTC)

You statisticians have taken more from me than any enemy
I remember having heard a claim that an early census returned roughly half the number the ruler expected. He complained, "You statisticians have taken more from me than any enemy."

Might anyone following this article have a source for anything like that?

My attempts to find something like that on the web suggests that the report I remember having heard may have been complete fiction. Still, it's such a juicy quote, it would be great if I could find a reference for it.

Thanks, DavidMCEddy (talk) 17:31, 27 October 2019 (UTC)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 16 January 2020 and 27 February 2020. Further details are available on the course page. Peer reviewers: HelenBanegas.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 17:05, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Hand-held computers
The 2020 US Census uses iPhone 8s carried by each NRFU enumerator, so the language of the paragraph in 'handheld computers' should be modified to reflect current realities. MaynardClark (talk) 03:59, 18 August 2020 (UTC)

Plagiarism
I haven't read the entire article, but I do see that the first paragraph under "Impact" in the section that talks about the effects of Covid-19 is taken word-for-word from its source with no quotation marks used. This [] is the source; the verbiage comes from what is indicated as page 4. The plagiarism needs to be addressed. I am not in the position to do so at this time, so I am noting it in case someone else can get to it before I can. Thanks. –  Kekki1978  (talk &#9993; &#124; contribs &#9998;) 13:50, 21 October 2022 (UTC)

"Early European population" listed at Redirects for discussion
The redirect [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Early_European_population&redirect=no Early European population] has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at  until a consensus is reached. Steel1943 (talk) 01:36, 8 December 2023 (UTC)

"Early European population statistics and censuses" listed at Redirects for discussion
The redirect [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Early_European_population_statistics_and_censuses&redirect=no Early European population statistics and censuses] has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at  until a consensus is reached. Steel1943 (talk) 01:42, 8 December 2023 (UTC)

"2000 South Korean Census" listed at Redirects for discussion
The redirect [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2000_South_Korean_Census&redirect=no 2000 South Korean Census] has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at  until a consensus is reached. Steel1943 (talk) 03:40, 8 December 2023 (UTC)