Tongan Statisticians gathered to celebrate World Statistics Day with the theme ‘Better data, Better lives’ today with the launch of the 2016 Population Census Report, and the Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2015/16 Report (HIES), at the Basillica of St Anthony of Padua in Nuku’alofa.

According to the Statistics Department, Tonga is the first country in the Pacific to conduct the 2016 Population Census with the use of tablets, and the first to include a new poverty module in the HIES.

In attendance at the event were guest of honour, the Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pohiva; Minister of Finance and National Planning, Dr Pohiva Tu’ionetoa; and Minister for Education and Training, Hon Penisimani Fifita, along with other guests and staff from the Statistics Department.

“World Statistics Day was initiated in order to shed light on the many achievements of national and international statistical systems, to raise public awareness and build trust in official statistics and to promote the work of statisticians throughout the world,” said Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pohiva.

He said it is important to produce reliable and timely statistics and indicators measuring a country’s progress.

Department of Statistics Sione Lolohea said that the population census was improved and enhanced using new technology.

“The new technology was able to reduce the total cost for conducting the census, and also reduce the long period taken for data processing, and the monitoring of fieldwork simultaneously.”

He said 600 tablets were used, 100 donated by UNICEF and 500 purchased by the Tonga Government.

The population for Tonga on 30 November 2016 was 100,651. The census counted 18,005 private households with 99,600 household members.

Telekaki Latavao from the Statistics Department said the HIES collected information on household income and expenditure, as well as education, health, labour force, primary activities, transport, information and communication, transfers and remittances, food expenditure and gender.

She added that they added a poverty module to the HIES to define and measure poverty in Tonga.

“Such a module enables us to measure poverty from its outcome which is the non-monetary aspect of poverty.”

She said the report is ready for policy makers and planners to make better decisions to benefit and improve the standard of living for people in Tonga.

Both reports were handed to the Prime Minister at the event.