Technology ensures accurate economic census data

China's third national economic census is now in its final day of registration after the completion of a three-month long fieldwork data collection project.

CRI's XYee finds out how technology has been used to carry out the most accurate check-up to date on the world's second largest economy.

Nearly 3 million statisticians have been knocking on the doors of some 10 million companies and 60 million private businesses across the country for the past three months.

These data collectors had been sent on a government mission to record the ownership details, staff sizes, balance books, production volumes and research and development activities of every one of those businesses.

Dubbed as the most comprehensive check-up of the country's economy to-date, ensuring accuracy was key to producing credible and usable data results.

"Right now I am taking a photo of this building whilst using my GPS to mark the exact location of this shop. This is to ensure that not only is the data we collect available in number form, but also that these details are also recorded photographically on a map."

Liu Ji is conducting his final on-site survey of his designated neighborhood in the Pudong district of Shanghai.

He is using a piece of equipment called a portable data assistant, or PDA that has been dished out to every one of the three million statisticians to assist their work.

The PDA, which can take in every piece of information needed, is connected to a centralized database through the internet.

At the same time, it features both GPS and mapping software, as well as a three-D camera, much like the Google Earth service.

Cheng Wensheng, director at the provincial Bureau of Statistics in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous region, explains why the third census is much more credible.

"First of all, by employing the PDA device we make sure that the business being surveyed exists. Secondly, we make sure that the surveyor was on-site and actually conducted the survey himself. These two aspects guarantee that the data we collected is verifiable and accurate."

Ensuring the surveyor has done his job is one thing, making sure the business being surveyed provides accurate data is another.

The two previous censuses often encountered problems with data being fabricated or in some cases, survey conductors being shunned by business owners.

Many of the businesses in these cases were found to have been trying to hide activities relating to tax fraud or concealed business earnings.

Xu Yifan, director general of the national economic census under the State Council, stresses that all business information gathered in the survey will be safely held within the database.

"Firstly, the information we obtain through the census will not be distributed to any third party or used for any purpose other than research and analysis. It is illegal to use this information as evidence to prosecute a business. In addition, the surveyors will be held legally accountable if they leak the data, particularly confidential business information, to a third party."

Additionally, the third national economic census also includes energy consumption and employee salary information for some cities and regions.

This data will be crucial for assisting the government in its drive to carry out economic reforms aimed at improving the country's economic development pattern, as well as people's livelihoods.

The census data will be processed in the next three months.

The first analysis of the data will come out in late June, after which it may be used for other purposes.