Tedad's margin of error will be less than 10%

Sunday, Jan 01, 2006

By Mubashra Seddiqi, Staff Reporter

Dubai: The census will provide key indicators about the UAE, Saeed Ebrahim Abdul Rahman Bin Kalbet, Head of Data Processing and Database Section at the Dubai Municipality's Statistics Centre, told Gulf News.

Bin Kalbet also responded to criticism made against the census that it would not reflect reality. Critics had suggested that certain laws within the country would make the census results inaccurate.

For instance, cohabiting by mixed-gender couples before marriage is illegal and punishable by law in the UAE.

"Statistics can never guarantee 100 per cent accurate results anywhere in the world, yet they can give very important indications," he said.

"We are starting off with the assumption that the information we have is right. But, of course, there is a margin of error. A 5 to 10 per cent margin of error is normal and acceptable."

While no margin of error for Tedad 2005 can be given until raw data is processed and statistical formulae applied, Bin Kalbet was optimistic that it would be less than 10 per cent.

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