Within its weekly session headed by H.E. the Prime Minister Dr. Rami Alhamdallah

The Ministers Council welcomes the launching of the second phase of the Population, Housing and Establishments Census 2017 "The Marking and Numbering Phase" in Palestine

Ramallah – 19/09/2017- The Ministers Council welcomes the launching of the second phase of Population, housing and Establishments census 2017; The Marking and Numbering Phase; undertaken by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) with the support and direction of H.E. President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) and H.E. the Prime Minister Dr. Rami Alhamdallah, and with the cooperation of all the public, private and the media institutions.

It's worth mentioning that the Marking and Numbering phase consists of marking and numbering the buildings, the housing units and the establishments in all of the Palestinian governorates. This phase is carried out after the completion of the first phase that consisted of delineating the enumeration areas. The Council commended this process especially that it is implemented for the third time with an independent Palestinian decision and Palestinian performance in addition to being implemented for the first time utilizing hand held devices (tablets). Most importantly, the Population, Housing and Establishments Census 2017 is considered the principal and preeminent statistical process that aims at producing the necessary data for developmental and social planning.

The Palestinian Government called for the cooperation of all the citizens with the census team members in addition to keeping the marks and numbers on the buildings knowing that any removal or alteration of the marks and numbers is considered a breach of the rule and a waste of enormous efforts spared for years to ensure accurate implementation. The Government also confirms that all data collected from the field will serve only statistical research purposes and that they will be published through aggregated statistical tables.  Furthermore, any personal data will remain confidential, as prescribed by the General Statistics Law of 2000.