Volkstelling in een ontwikkelingsland. Opmerkingen naar aanleiding van de in 1965 gehouden eerste volkstelling in Kabul, Afghanistan, en wat daaraan voorafging

Samenvatting

A census held in an underdeveloped country raises many problems. The right to conduct a census becomes a political question. The agency to perform it should not have conflicting interests, eg military conscription. The notion of census might be so alien to the country that even a new word for it must be found, as was the case in Afghanistan. Other linguistic-political problems arise when making up the questionnaire. Aside from the apparent demographic, economic, and political function, the census has many other uses. The territorial division for the census in Afghanistan showed that different governmental agencies disagreed about specific city limits. As a result of this, exact limits were established, topographic maps could be improved, governmental services could be given to forgotten parts of the city, and a system of street names and numbers was introduced. The preparation for the census made communication between different agencies necessary and demonstrated that it was possible. The relatively simple organization of a census makes it possible to obtain and to organize information where other research projects fail. A census established relations in the country on all levels: demographic, social, and economic. K. Dillman.