KRT releases demographic survey results

Wednesday, 29 September 2010
James O'Toole
The Phnom Penh Post

THE Khmer Rouge tribunal yesterday released a demographic survey conducted as part of the investigation in its second case that offers new estimates of the death toll under Democratic Kampuchea.

In their 143-page report, researchers Ewa Tabaeu and They Kheam estimated that Cambodia’s population was between 7.84 million and 8.1 million as of April 1975. Of those, they said, between 1.75 million and 2.2 million perished under Democratic Kampuchea: Between 800,000 and

1.3 million died violently and the remainder succumbed to starvation, overwork and other causes.

The researchers relied in part on previous academic and government surveys, though they noted that the dearth of official statistics from the period created a significant degree of uncertainty in any estimate.

“Statistical sources on the population of Cambodia during or around the period from April 1975 to January 1979 are non-existent,” the report says. The most recent census conducted prior to 1975 was done in 1962; the next was not completed until 1998.

Former Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary, social action minister Ieng Thirith, head of state Khieu Samphan and Brother No 2 Nuon Chea were indicted earlier this month on charges including crimes against humanity and genocide of Cham Muslims and ethnic Vietnamese.

The genocide charges in particular have been the subject of debate among academics, some of whom say it will be difficult to prove that minorities were singled out when so many killed by the Khmer Rouge were ethnic Khmer.

The figures in the survey, however, may aid the prosecution in proving the genocide charges. About 36 percent of Cham Muslims and nearly 100 percent of Vietnamese in Cambodia under Democratic Kampuchea perished, the report said, compared with 18.7 percent of ethnic Khmers.

“You just have to show that there was an intent to destroy in whole or in part” to prove genocide charges, international Co-Prosecutor Andrew Cayley said. “The figures ... speak for themselves in that respect.”

High population growth rate in Cambodia: Inflated by illegal immigrants?

Two million boost to Cambodia's population

September 4, 2008
ABC Radio Australia

Cambodia's population has reportedly increased by nearly two million over the past decade to reach 13.4 million.

The figures were compiled from the Government's provisional census data collected in February.

Cambodia's first census, which was held in 1962, had put the population then at 5.7 million.

The next census was not until 36 years later.

The country's annual population growth rate during the last decade averaged 1.54 per cent, higher than the average growth rate of 1.3 percent for southeast Asia.

JICA helps Cambodia improve statistics ability [- Maybe this explains why Cambodia gov't census numbers are all bogus up to know]

February 09, 2007

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) said here on Thursday that it has been helping the Cambodian government improve its statistics capability during a five-year project.

JICA has been working with the National Institute of Statistics (NIS) under the Ministry of Planning since Oct. 2005 and intends to continue to do so until September 2010, aiming to help improve its statistics ability, JICA expert Shinichi Inue told reporters.

In the past years, most of JICA's efforts have been put on the training of statistics personnel, he said, adding that the emphasis will shift this year towards the undertaking of 2008 Population Census and the preparatory works.

The Ministry of Planning requests the Japanese government for funding about 38 percent of the census expenditure, said Hang Lina, Deputy Director General of NIS, adding that JICA will provide technical assistance for the census.

The Cambodian government will undertake 12 percent of the budget, while the U.N. Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) and the German government 50 percent, she said.

According to the timetable, all essential preparatory activities for the 2008 census will be completed in December 2007, and the final census results will be ready on July 2009.

JICA started operations in Cambodia in 1992. It is an independent administrative institution.

Source: Xinhua