China population census delay may be due to coronavirus impact on migrant workers, demographer says

The coronavirus pandemic’s impact on the travel patterns of migrant workers – making it more difficult to count them – may have played a key role in Beijing’s decision to delay the release of its once-a-decade population census, according to a veteran demographer who has closely studied China’s previous census practises.

The postponement of China’s 2020 census data release – first from early April to late April, and then to an indefinite date in the future – has raised suspicions in some quarters that the government was intervening to cover up problems with the data, though there has been no evidence to support this speculation. Every day since the first delay, netizens have posted a myriad of satirical comments on the official social media account of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), calling for it to release the data.

“I come here every day to check in on the census. I’ve never even been this diligent when it comes to running or taking medicine,” said one popular comment on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter.

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