jordan pulse -

Jordan officially launched its seventh General Population and Housing Census on Thursday under the national banner "Our Census for a Better Future." Spanning the entire month through October 31, the decennial national undertaking aims to enumerate and profile approximately 2.5 million households across the Kingdom, providing empirical baselines for macro-level socioeconomic planning and infrastructure development.

Haider Al-Furaihat, Director-General of the Department of Statistics (DOS) and National Census Director, announced that field operations will encompass approximately 24,000 statistical blocks and nearly one million structural units. The nationwide deployment is powered by a workforce of roughly 12,000 field researchers – 60 percent of whom are women – comprising nearly 10,000 educators seconded from the Ministry of Education alongside 2,000 DOS personnel and specialized temporary enumerators.

Scope and Methodological Framework Mandated by Article 4 of General Statistics Law No. 8 of 2025, the census is designed to capture a comprehensive portrait of Jordan’s demographic, social, educational, and housing characteristics. DOS emphasized that the census questionnaires strictly exclude inquiries regarding household financial wealth or economic standing, focusing exclusively on core demographic indicators, labor force dynamics, and residential infrastructure.

The resulting microdata will directly inform public policy formulation and geographic resource allocation, shaping long-term strategic investments in critical sectors such as public health, education, urban transit, and municipal utilities. Furthermore, the dataset will map demographic shifts and urban expansion trends, enhancing the precision of governmental planning at both national and local governance tiers.

Technological Architecture and AI Integration The 2026 enumeration cycle marks a major structural transition toward digital statistical governance, adhering to United Nations methodological guidelines for the 2025 – 2030 census decade. Field operations are anchored by an advanced digital ecosystem utilizing standardized tablet devices, intelligent electronic data-capture forms, GIS spatial mapping tools, and integration with governmental administrative databases.

Crucially, the architecture incorporates artificial intelligence and automated electronic auditing systems to monitor field progress, execute real-time data validation, and safeguard information integrity.

Data Confidentiality and Field Protocols Strict legal protections govern the census operations. Under the General Statistics Law, all collected individual records are classified as strictly confidential, legally protected from disclosure, and restricted exclusively to aggregate statistical processing.

To ensure security and public trust, field researchers are issued official credentials embedded with a verifiable QR code, enabling citizens and residents to authenticate personnel identity instantly via the national "Sanad" digital platform. Additionally, a dedicated toll-free call center (117110) has been activated to manage public inquiries.

Acknowledging logistical complexities, DOS has engineered flexible scheduling protocols for field visits to accommodate household routines. In instances where occupants are absent during initial enumerator visits, follow-up calls and revisits are automatically scheduled to guarantee exhaustive coverage of all domestic and foreign residents. Concluding his remarks, Al-Furaihat underscored that public cooperation remains paramount in securing the data accuracy required to drive effective national development.

//Petra// AA