Vice President Faisal Naseem has stressed that the data collected through the Maldives Population and Housing Census 2022, is crucial for future development of the island nation.

He said this while speaking to officials and enumerators of the Maldives Statistics Bureau (MBS) during a visit to the Census 2022 center in Hulhumalé, on Tuesday.

As such, he noted that the Census 2022 data is crucial to determine the growth of the population and its multiple characteristics, adding that it is also crucial for planning the future development activities in Maldives.

Further, he noted that the data collected, will greatly assist in long-term development planning as well as formulating policies to cater to the socio-economic needs of the population, particularly in the housing sector.

Stressing on the large percentage of youth working as volunteers, VP Naseem went on to shed light on the experience of participating in a national event of such importance.

VP Naseem expressed gratitude to the staff of MBS, as well as the enumerators.

Noting the support of the public for the process, VP Naseem urged for increased public cooperation towards this national level activity .

The visit saw VP Naseem inspecting the progress of the data collection operation.

In an earlier visit to the census center, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih also urged the public to support the data collection efforts for Census 2022.

Stating that the information gathered during the census would be instrumental in planning the country's future, the president had also noted that the census data will facilitate developmental planning and identify the most pressing societal issues within communities.

The Maldives Bureau of Statistics (MBS) is carrying out Census 2022.

The listing operation will be carried out from September 13 – 14, with the main operation proceeding from September 17 – 25.

The bureau recruited more than 4,000 enumerators for Census 2022, of whom around 2,000 enumerators will be working in the Greater Malé Region.