Chief Statistician Lennox Benjamin yesterday said cross border immigration and the start of oil production will bring changes in the profiles of Guyana’s population over the next two to four years, thereby making the Bureau of Statistics’ data gathering essential to informing growth and development.
“Strange enough, one clear challenge that has emerged since 2012 is the changing face of our population. We are no longer a uniquely English-speaking country in South America,” Benjamin said, while speaking at the signing and launch for a joint Guyana Government and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) US$1 million Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS 6) to monitor the situation of children and women. The US$1 million partnership is a 50/50 arrangement.
Language training and language proficiency have become a clear challenge, Benjamin said, while noting that by 2022 when the next population census is due, being bilingual at the minimum will be a clear requirement for the staff who would be managing and executing surveys.
