"whisky-dave" wrote in message
...
On Wednesday, 12 February 2020 18:43:09 UTC, jon lopgel wrote:
"Martyn Barclay" wrote in message
news
On Wed, 12 Feb 2020 07:13:00 +0000, Andy Burns wrote:

The next census might be the last?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51468919

Just like the previous one was supposed to be the last?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10584385

The census is quite a valuable source of information for those doing
family genealogy.

But is that worth the very high cost ?

That depends on what yuo mean by high costs.
But the census is also used as a prediction tool for the way the country
and inhabitants are moving both politicvally and socailly although things
change
much faster in the 21st century than they previously did.



What annoys a genealogists, historians & family
members doing research is the UK's insistence on sticking rigidly to
the
"100 year rule" whereby the 1921 census will be released in 2022. The
US &
Australian census (for example) are released under a "72 year rule" &
can
be researched up until 1940, & the US 1950 Federal census will be
released
in 2022.

In Australia, after the statistical data is collected, the original
census
data is destroyed, so there is no 72 year rule in the sense of access
to all the original data on the census form.

How much does it cost to destroy

Very little.

and what is the point.

So the privacy of the individuals is preserved.

Are you saying we can't find out how many people lived in say
sydney 100 years ago because the records have been destroyed ?

No, that is the statistical information that is the whole point of
the census and that data is available quite quickly after the census
is done and is always available after that. What is destroyed is the
filled out individual census forms that contain the information that
compromises the privacy of those who filled out the forms,