DATA ANALYSIS AND DISSEMINATION

The information collected in the 2004 Census is being made available to users in diverse forms, mainly in printed publications, computer media, and on-line.

We have already produced three printed publications:

1. National Priority Tables, which is a printed publication that includes basic tabulations at the national level;

2. Poster, containing basic demographic indicators and graphics at the national and district levels;

3. Main Demographic Indicators, Graphs and Maps, which is a booklet that summarizes basic demographic information;

Two more printed publications and will be ready during the present year:

4. District Priority Tables, which includes basic tabulations at the regional and district levels;

5. Census Atlas, which is a set of thematic maps and tables of basic demographic and socioeconomic indicators.

The following printed publications on population and related projections will be produced:

6. Population projections at the national level;

7. Population projections at the regional and district levels, as well as rural-urban;

8. Labor force projections;

9. Household projections;

10. School enrolment projections.

The population projection at the national level is ready for publication and the projection at desegregated levels is in progress. Both will be published during the present year. The set of three related projections will be prepared late this year and published in 2007.

The following printed publications containing demographic analyses will also be published:

The first two monographs are in progress and, together with the third, will be published before the end of the year. The other three monographs will be conducted and published in 2007.

In addition to the printed publications described above, the NSD will produce four CDs with data and background information:

12. Priority tables, which will include the entire collection of tables from the printed publications, both at the national and disaggregated levels;

13. Population and related projections, which will contain the data and background information of the complete set of population and related projections;

14. Census Atlas, containing the complete set of maps and tables included in the printed publication;

15. Users' micro-data database, which will be a Redatam database containing records of individuals and household.

It is expected that the NSD will produce the four CDs during the present year.

Selected priority tables, projection results and maps will be posted on-line on the NSD webpage. At present the NSD website is under development ( http://dne.mopf.gov.tl ). It is expected that during the present year the basic census information and population projections will be posted. 

A Table Retrieval System (TRS) will be used to organize tables, graphs and maps in the four CDs and on the website. The TRS will allow users to search for tables by subject, title and geographic area.

All the census publications and other materials are distributed free of charge

The NSD is also planning to conduct several short courses and workshops in order to increase the utilization of the 2004 Census results. These training activities will be directed mainly at personnel from ministries (especially Health and Labor), staff from the district administrations, international agencies and NGOs (mainly national staff).  The planned training program includes the following:

1. A 1-day workshop on the utilization of priority tables;

2. A 5-day course on population and development to teach how to use census data in development planning;

3. A 1-day courses on each of the following topics:

• Mortality analysis,
• Fertility analysis,
• Migration analysis,
• Population projections;

4. A course on the use of Redatam.

It is important to mention that as soon as the 2004 Census master file was completed in December 2005, requests for special tabulations and thematic maps began to arrive from diverse sources. These requests increased substantially after the official launching of the 2004 Census in April 2006. Concerning census data, approximately 50% of the requests are for labor force participation data, 30% for population by age and sex in small areas, 10% for education and 10% for housing characteristics. Regarding maps, most requests are for the administrative structure of the country, the location of dwellings and population sizes in different administrative areas. References made in publications and reports, requests for printed publications, and calls to get clarifications on some particular concept or data are clear indications that the published census data are being used extensively by a large and diverse user-community.

At present, the NSD does not have the personnel and resources to create and develop a Data Users' Center. Census Project staff are producing the special tabulations and maps that are constantly being requested. Actually, this has proved to be a problem since time dedicated to produce the publications and analyses has to be allocated to provide these services  which, no doubt, is also an important part of the dissemination activities

Needless to say that census data, and in particular the geographic database, is being extensively used during the crisis that Timor-Leste is currently experiencing, mainly to identify and locate groups that may be vulnerable to shortages of food, health problems and poor sanitation. It is also being used to manage distribution programs of food, medicines, tents, drinking water and other supplies to the many internally displaced people in camps in and around Dili.