Every ten years in the USA we must, by law, conduct a national census, which means the government must get an exact head count on how many people are living in the country. In addition to counting noses, the government takes this opportunity to find answers to such important questions as "what racial or ethnic group to you self-identify with?" While I understand the need to have a fairly good idea about numbers and how they are distributed geographically, it just doesn't make sense that you would do it by going house to house, but this is just about how it has done . I've already been visited by two different census people, I still haven't responded to the inevitable form with its many questions. It seems to me that today we should be able to use computers and statistical methods to come up with the count and call it good enough.
So I'd like to know. What does everyone else around the world do?
So I'd like to know. What does everyone else around the world do?