Use of new technologies and evidence-based decisions: key factors in the strategy for the 2020 Population and Housing Census in Mexico in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The development of population and housing censuses implies a challenge regarding the necessary resources, logistics, and operations for National Statistical Offices (NSOs). At the global level, this challenge was more significant in the 2020 census round due to the COVID-19 health contingency. This led Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía – INEGI) to analyze possible scenarios in the face of the pandemic and rethink some activities in order to adapt to the contingency. As a result of these measures, the 2020 Population and Housing Census in Mexico turned out a success. The aim of the paper is to share INEGI’s solutions implemented before, during, and after the COVID-19 contingency, which favored the development and conclusion of the census in Mexico and which other countries might find useful. Among the key elements of the Mexican census strategy was the incorporation of technologies for data collection, e.g. migrating from paper questionnaires to the use of mobile computing devices (MCDs), which reduced the time of capture and processing of information. In addition, a brief analysis of the behavior of past pandemics facilitated the decision-making. The main lessons learned from the Mexican experience include: the importance of maintaining the generation of official statistics in crisis contexts, the need for NSOs to have a robust risk management system that contemplates all types of scenarios and allows them to act in any contingency, and the need to implement innovative data collection methods and extend the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).