INDIVIDUALS: Demographic information about the people
HOUSEHOLDS: Characteristics of the households
- HOUSEHOLD: Household characteristics, water and sanitation, energy, household equipments.
- INDIVIDUAL: Individual characteristics, education, literacy, fertility, economic activities.
The creation of the independent and sovereign nation of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) under the Compact of Free Association with the United States caused a growing need for social and economic development planning. Consequently, as in many developing countries, administrators and planners in the FSM, in their quest for social and economic development often contend with incomplete or unavailable information when it is needed.
The National Statistics Office (NSO) strives and continues to support government by providing socio-economic statistics for monitoring and evaluation purposes through population censuses. These socio-economic statistics are also made available to other users such as the businesses, the churches, regional and international organizations. One of the main sources of demographic and social-economic statistics in Kiribati is the population and housing census. Kiribati has been carrying out population and housing censuses in a "modern sense" at intervals of about five years since 1985.