Preliminary results of 2002's National Population and Housing Census will be handed over to the Finance Minis-ter today.

A report from the Govern-ment Information Agency (GINA) said the findings would also be presented to the Cabinet and released to the public soon.

The census exercise began in September 2002 and ran into 2003 with many observers asking why it has taken so long for the results to be made public.

The census requires a 100 per cent count of the population but the internationally acceptable norm is a 2 per cent margin of error. Population characteristics like gender, ethnic, education, housing, religion, migration, and - in the case of women - fertility profiles, will be derived from the data collected during the enumeration exercise.

The data will be used by policymakers to formulate policies for the population. The data will also be analysed and compared with the findings of previous censuses.

Based on surveys that were conducted in the period since Guyana's last census in 1991, a population increase is anticipated.

The GINA report said the Bureau of Statistics is hoping to conduct a media information workshop before the preliminary results are released to sensitise the media to the usefulness and the interpretation of information from the exercise.

Also, the bureau hopes to launch a website where all the results from the census will be available.