Following yesterday’s release of the census data for 2011, a lot of interesting conclusions have been drawn. But there are also some concerns that have been raised regarding the accuracy of the data presented.

Firstly, around 14% of the country’s citizens were not counted according to data from the 2011 Census. Officials say this figure has improved from an undercount of around 17% in 2001. But despite the undercount, Trevor Manuel says he is confident that the figures are reliable enough to be used for national planning. More detail can be seen in the video below.

In this interview with the Daily Maverick, Professor Tom Moultrie from UCT’s Centre for Actuarial Research (CARe) reveals some of the concerns that he and his colleagues had with the Census 2011 data and the review process itself. Moultrie claims that, despite initially being promised that the data would be available some three months before the release date, the academics received what was declared to be the final data set on 10 October – only nine days before they were expected to submit their final report!

Prof Moultrie also raised these two areas of specific concern:

• The first is with population estimates of the provinces, which he says “cannot be reconciled” with data on births, deaths and migration.
• The second is with the age distribution of the population, which to be correct, he says, would involve that the fertility rate rose and fell among some population groups with astonishing rapidity.

In a Facebook post, economist Mike Schussler, also offered this different interpretation of how to read the data:

 [Source: eNews, Facebook, Daily Maverick, BusinessLive]