This paper attempts to assess the data quality of Panama’s population census of 2023 results, especially as a mean to verify substantial changes in the census coverage. The research design is an observational study, using basic demographic techniques involving sex and age variables, for example, the sex ratio. The study is a secondary data analysis released to the public by the National Institute of Statistics and Census of Panama since 1980, as well as United Nations.
The comparison of the estimations of United Nations for Panama in the period of the census and the results of the analysis of indicators such as the sex ratio, which registered a steep decline against the last census below the 100 mark, suggesting an important omission in the results of the population census of 2023, particularly regarding men, increasing the trend noted in previous census. This situation seems to be explained, at least partially, due to the change in methodology from a de facto population to a de iure population. Perhaps, the main prospective message of this research, is that the lack of methodological information —amongst other things, the inclusion criteria for the added population through administrative record— truly makes difficult a proper evaluation of the quality of the census data.
