Acting Commerce Secretary Ivan Blanco and Justin Andrews, computer specialist III of the department, said the CNMI data, along with that of the 50 states and the other insular areas, are still being reviewed in Washington, D.C.
Based on the information they have, the data will be released after over a year or so.
“Maybe a year or two from now. It takes time to process them. They are first send to D.C.,” said Blanco.
The first U.S. Census was conducted in the Northern Marianas in 1950.
Every 10 years, another census is done.
The 2000 Census pegged the islands’ population at over 69,000, majority of them were guest workers, mainly from China and the Philippines.
This number, however, is believed to have gone down as more people leave the CNMI due to its worsening economic conditions.
The latest CNMI census will include not only population count but types of houses, employment, ethnicity, among other demographic facts.
The project was conducted on Saipan, Tinian, Rota and the inhabited northernmost islands of the CNMI.
Close to 180 enumerators were hired to conduct the census.
Blanco said the CNMI’s census was completed ahead of targeted deadline — September.
Blanco and Andrews are hoping the new data will help the cash-strapped CNMI government secure more federal assistance.
Rebecca Díaz Cartagena, section chief of the U.S. Census Bureau in Puerto Rico, was the 2010 Census advisor for the CNMI.
