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The 2016 Population By-census (By-census) conducted by the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) will start tomorrow (June 30) and run until August 2. About 10 per cent of households in Hong Kong have been randomly selected and notification letters have been sent out to nearly all sampled households.
A spokesman for the C&SD said, "The notification letters of the By-census, with e-questionnaire account information uniquely assigned to each household included, have been mailed out in purple envelopes."
The coming By-census will offer an e-questionnaire option for self-enumeration by households. Households may also choose to provide information through personal interviews. From June 30 onwards, all households (including owner-occupiers and tenants) that have received the notification letters should complete and submit the e-questionnaire in accordance with the instructions laid down in the notification letter, through the 2016 Population By-census website (www.bycensus2016.gov.hk), or via the dedicated mobile app downloaded from the website.
For those households that have not yet submitted e-questionnaire, the C&SD will arrange census officers, who will work in pairs, to conduct face-to-face interviews by using mobile tablets to collect the information from July 16 to August 2, 2016.
Some individual households, such as those without a clearly identifiable postal address (including those in rural areas using communal letter boxes or those in non-residential buildings), may not have received a notification letter. The C&SD will arrange for census officers to visit them to deliver the notification letter directly and conduct face-to-face interviews from July 16 to August 2, 2016.
"Sampled households will receive the notification letter either through mailing from the Hongkong Post or direct delivery from census officers. Those households that do not receive the notification letter are not enumeration units in the By-census," the spokesman added.
Information on individual persons and households collected in the By-census will be kept in strict confidence and used for statistical purposes only. The C&SD is legally prohibited from allowing access to such information by any other government departments, organisations or unauthorised persons. All completed questionnaires will be destroyed within 12 months after the commencement of the By-census.
For any queries related to completing the e-questionnaire, members of the public may call the By-census Service Centre on 18 2016 or visit the 2016 Population By-census website to obtain more information. The service hours of the By-census Service Centre are from 9am to 10.30pm, seven days per week, until August 2.
Ends/Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Issued at HKT 15:05
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