Yesterday was census day in the UK.
Almost 28m households around the country logged in to an online platform to submit answers to questions ranging from age, to health, to living arrangements, to education, and to religion.
The event is a statisticians heaven; it’s a once-in-a-decade opportunity to get a detailed and accurate pulse check on the population.
Like voting, I view participating in the census as a civic duty, because many decisions are made based on these data. For example, census data helps councils make investment decision for local housing improvements, and it can also help charities decide on where and how to deliver their services. If the data isn’t accurate or representative, these critical decisions could be unfairly impacted.
Despite the huge effort required to pull it off, the census also reminds me of the Peter Drucker quote, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” It’s perhaps grandest example of this quote in practice.