The EU has donated money to the Lebanese Government’s body of statistics. But of course no one is talking about the big statistical elephant in the Lebanese room.
Am I the only one who finds this news item amusing:
The European Union has donated 545,000 euros ($800,000) worth of information-technology equipment and software to Lebanon’s Central Administration of Statistics (CAS), the EU’s office in Lebanon and the Lebanese government announced on Tuesday
Everyone in Lebanon is agreeing that we need more statistics for the country to work more efficiently:
A recently published National Human Development Report on Lebanon entitled “Towards a Citizens’ State,” indicated that Lebanon’s absence of reliable data is a significant and formidable obstacle to the country’s prospects of social and economic development. The EU grant, therefore, provides the troubled CAS with a much-needed boost, providing not only financial resources, but also technical assistance. The grant will include training sessions, workshops and specialist programs to strengthen the administration’s capabilities.
But here’s the catch. The statistics should not in any way be used to measure Lebanese demographics. Lebanon hasn’t had a census since the 60s. We don’t want to know how many Christians, Shias Sunnis and atheists Lebanon has. This remains one of the biggest taboos in a country that built its entire political infrastructure around sectarian foundations.
Yet another Lebanese way of leaving the essential and working around the fringes.
What do you think? Wouldn’t it be a better idea to have a population census? Or do you think Lebanon is not politically ready for such undertakings?
Hello, my name is Mustapha and I've been blogging about Lebanese society, business and politics since February 2005.
M,
I think you are confusing the technical problems for the lack of stats in Lebanon with the political one.
The issue of sect count is purely political and has nothing to do with the sort of aid the EU is ofering Lebanon. The two problems are independent. This support, anyway, must be essential for generating capacity necessary to ”scientifically” informed policy making.
Overall statistics on Lebanon, if not the Middle East in general, is not plenty. Thanks to Arab Monetary Fund, United Nations Development Program, World Bank, CIA.org, and recently Lebanon’s Ministry of Finance, Central Bank, Ministry of Social Affairs, Central Administration of Statistics that economic data on Lebanon is available. I am pursuing a doctorate degree in finance and hoping to focus my dissertation on Lebanon, but I am still hesitant to focus on Lebanon because of the insufficient data available.
Recently I encountered an interesting research on poverty in Lebanon, and I summarized it on my blog ( http://tarek.hoteit.org/2008/01/study-poverty-growth-and-income.html ). Do you know that if every Lebanese individual gives $12 once year, extreme poverty in Lebanon (300k people living less than $2.4 dollars per day) would be eliminated?
As to your question on whether funds must be used for a population census, I do agree with you that it’s time that Lebanon comes up with an updated one. However, I personally prefer that the funds be used to analyze poverty and the agricultural sector in Lebanon in order to help overcome overall poverty of million Lebanese people (300K lives under extreme poverty as noted) and improve our agriculture export sector.
What do you think? Wouldn’t it be a better idea to have a population census? Or do you think Lebanon is not politically ready for such undertakings?
Well, it depends… if after a new census, a group sees that their demographic is less/more than expected, will they freak out/become belligerent?
If the answer is yes… maybe Lebanon is not ready. Or will instead the brief shock make everyone take a more realistic stance after momentary panic?
Ramzi,
Many times in Lebanon, policy making is influenced by tribal considerations but is disguised in “scientific data” . For example, a Druze minister can allocate resources to the development of an impoverished Druze area for political reasons, but publicly offers “scientific evidence” about the rate of poverty in that area.
What I’m saying is that both sets of data should be available so that the media and the development agencies could be able to detect this conflict of interest, and inject more fairness into the system.
Tarek,
Although I don’t share your enthusiasm for wealth redistribution, I strongly encourage you to focus on Lebanon. I believe the potential for rewarding findings is great, not least because of the immense complexity of the country.
Lewis,
The answer will more likely to be yes of course. But we should push for is nonetheless.
Simply put… we’re at each others necks that there are more Maronites than sunnies… or propably the opposite?
See… the problem it causes?? The posts and comments that will follow
Typical Lebanese approach, to ignore the elephant in the room, for political taboo reasons.
It’s high time we joined the 20th century (not even the 21st!) and started applying some scientific methodology and rational thinking to our idea of a state. And yes, that includes a national census. And no, it should have no baring on the political system, for the simple reason that the political system should be secular in the first place.
A census isn’t going to solve our political problems. What’s the point? To give one sect an excuse to control everyone else and to start rioting until they get that control? The only stable solution is secularism.
That said, I would love to have a census from a purely scientific point of view – not just to know how many there are from each sect but also to know how many have emigrated and how many are naturalized.
(1) Religion is NOT a question in U.S. census forms or any government I.D.
(2) Federal Social Security IDs are now issued at birth, providing a citizen database.
(3) A census serves to identify population growth and movement in cities and states, which helps manage and predict the need for schools, utilities, and other infrastructure considerations.
In short, religion is only a PERSONAL view; a census helps ensure that city and state populations are equitably represented in various government offices.
“…Lebanon hasn’t had a census since the 60s. We don’t want to know how many Christians, Shias Sunnis and atheists Lebanon has”.
I have the DATA:
Shias, a lot
Sunnis, quit a lot
Christians, some
Atheists, Nil.
.
Why do you guys immediately associate “census” with religion?
In the civilized world, religion is a private matter, and as mentioned above, is not a question on the census.
I want to have a census, not because of sectarian reasons, but because statistics are the basis of good governance. You want to know what your population’s needs are based on their demographics. How many older people do we have? Where are they mostly located? How many poor people versus how many “good income” people, and where are they distributed? Educated vs Illiterate, and where are they distributed?
You know, the kind of scientific and USEFUL data, that’s supposed to be used by governments to better serve their citizens, by focusing the resources where they need to go, and diverting them from where they aren’t needed.
As opposed to the childish bickering and idiotic paranoia that has to do with sectarianism.
I REALLY don’t get why Lebanese still walk around the world over, strutting like we’re better than all these other people. We’ve got to be one of the most backwards and medieval countries in the WORLD. Yet you wouldn’t know it, having a conversation with a Lebanese. The way we look down on westerners, arabs, asians and africans alike. Newsflash guys: All of the above are at least several hundred years ahead of us. We’re somewhere in the bottom rung, along with countries like Afghanistan and Somalia.