The St. Maarten Department of Statistics is already underway with advance preparations for Population & Housing Census 2011, which is to be held in, 2011. One major effort is the establishment of an agreement with Innovative Marketing Creations (IMC), to manage and direct a comprehensive publicity campaign strategically geared towards encouraging the entire population of St. Maarten to participate in this essential 2011 Census.
Makini Hickinson, Director of Department of Statistics stated: "Makini Hickinson, Head of Department of Statistics (formerly CBS), stated: We are extremely excited about the St. Maarten 2011 Census; as this will be one of the largest and most significant projects that the new Department will undertake for Country St. Maarten. This Census will serve as a baseline for our new country and will provide recent data on the population structure and socio-economic characteristics of St. Maarten. We are also pleased, after extensive bid, and selection process for the right company, to entrust IMC as the team to provide their experience, knowledge, skills, and marketing expertise to creatively raise awareness, and instill the need in the public to participate in Census 2011."
This will be the first time the island’s population will be tallied as Country St. Maarten, marking a historic moment in St. Maarten’s history, and increasing the importance of the public’s participation.
"IMC will create extensive publicity campaigns that will be customized to target the dominating cultures of the island," says Jacqueline Louis, IMC’s Project Consultant. "We will work to create a united effort building upon emotional triggers to our Country St. Maarten and the public participation required for a successful Census 2011."
The overall communication objective of the publicity campaigns of the 2011 Census will be to obtain a maximum commitment of the entire population of St. Maarten in order to achieve a full cooperation for the Census 2011. The success of the Census depends for the most part on the cooperation that the population will give.
"It is important to speak to, and include all cultures and ethnicities on the island during the awareness efforts, taking into consideration that this Census it is about everyone on St. Maarten. Despite where you came from, it counts where you are at. We all call St. Maarten home, thus we must prioritize to make each one of us count" stated Emmalexis Velasquez, IMC’s Marketing Assistant who will be managing this project initiative.
A census (population and housing census) is defined as: "The process of collecting, compiling, evaluating, analyzing and publishing demographic, economic and social data of all persons in a country at a particular time." Previous censuses occured in 1972, 1981, 1992 and 2001, and were conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics of the Netherlands Antilles.
In line with the developments of the political structure, the 2011 Census will be held only in Curacao and St. Maarten.
In order to collect the data, a large number of interviewers will conduct door-to-door surveys with the intention to reach the entire population of the island. The greater the reach, the more complete picture there will be of the demographic, economic and social situation of Country St. Maarten.
St. Maarten is home to at least 161 different nationalities. The top 10 different countries of origin besides the Dutch & Antillean-Dutch nationals are the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Dominica, Jamaica, Guyana, India, Great Britain, France, St. Kitts / Nevis and St. Lucia respectively.
The St. Maarten Department of Statistics is encouraging the entire public to become familiar with Census 2011 and to support and participate in the project and be part of the island’s history in the making, as the first population count of Country St. Maarten.
For further information please contact IMC Marketing Assistant Emmalexis Velasquez at 543-2150/51 or email at marketing@eyemc.net or contact St. Maarten Census Project Leader, Ms. Maurette Antersijn at maurette.antersijn@sintmaartengov.org