Census is complete.

"We've no figures available yet,'' said Census superintendent Janet Smith-Bradshaw. "But, we are finished and, based on the information to date, we're very pleased with the outcome.'' The mop-up phase was the six month extension period which brought the Census deadline from the end of August to last Wednesday (February 28).

During this period, the enumerators hoped to capture information from some 3,500 households which had been missed in the original collection period.

Enumerators reportedly experienced difficulties in the early months of the collection process as many expatriate workers believed the census did not apply to them and other people resisted being counted, seeing it as an invasion of privacy.

The 2000 count is intended to include every person who was living in Bermuda on May 20 of last year. Data collection started on that date and was expected to be completed within two months.

Bermuda's last census was conducted in 1991, and significant changes on the country's population -- now roughly 62,656 -- are expected.

Ms Smith Bradshaw said that during the mop-up phase, statisticians began collating and calculating the data which was collected during the initial phase and that process will continue until April.

All the completed questionnaires should be scanned into the databases by the end of June, she said. The data must then be checked and undergo a six-month evaluation process.

"That takes us to December 2000,'' she said. "By that time we should have a clean database. Then we'll generate the final tabulations used for analysis and write the final report.'' An executive summary should be finished by the end of February 2002. The final document won't be ready until July 2002, she said.