Muscat: Oman's population is expected to be around 3.2 million when the country carries out its census from midnight December 11, said the Census Department director general Ali Bin Mehboub Bin Hassan.
He said those present in Oman at midnight on December 11 would become part of the ‘snapshot' and counted as part of the country's population.
"Every individual who spends the night of December 11 in Oman will be included in the population count," Bin Mehboub said.
"It's like a ‘freeze moment'."
Everyone who is in Oman at the Census time — whether a resident or a visitor — would be counted, he stressed. Unlike in many countries, Oman had decided to count every individual present in the country — even in hospital or prison.
Full confidentiality
Oman recently tightened its rules around foreigners living in the country without proper papers, but Ali Bin Mehboub told Gulf News that the census department had nothing to with that.
"Any individual residing in Oman during the 2010 census process from December 11, midnight, will be counted," he said, adding that the census department was not concerned with an individual's residence status.
He also assured full confidentiality regarding the information people provided for the census.
More than 7,000 had been employed to help carry out the 2010 census, an Oman government spokesman said. A toll-free hotline has been set up (80072010) to answer queries in Arabic, English and Hindi.
