RSSeNEWS to be determined...

Malaysia's Department of Statistics is set to recruit 27,000 part-time workers for two months from July to help with its 2010 national census of population and housing.

The country's population has been growing rapidly. The 2000 census counted 23.5m people, but in 2008 the World Bank estimated it had grown to almost 27m. Chief statistician Datuk Wan Ramlah Wan Abd Raof estimates the total will exceed 29m this year, and has allocated RM200m (about £37m at 8 February 2010 exchange rates) to pay for the count.

At the census launch conference she urged Malaysian residents to cooperate by answering 50 questions about themselves, their households and housing. She also sought to reassure residents that the information would not be disclosed to third parties.