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SummaryA national census provides important information on a country's population that is used in government planning and to underpin the national statistical system. Therefore, the quality of such information is paramount but is not as simple as the crude accuracy of population totals. Furthermore, changes in the pace and nature of modern life, such as the growing geographical mobility of the population, increasingly pose challenges to census practice and data quality. More recently, even the need for a census has been questioned on grounds of financial austerity and widespread availability of alternative population information sources. This article reviews how the modern census originated and how it evolved to confront these challenges, driven by indicators of quality and needs of users, and provides reflections on the future of the census within the national statistical infrastructure. To illustrate our discussions, we use case studies from a diverse range of national contexts. We demonstrate the implications that a country's needs, circumstances and experiences have on the census approach and practice while identifying the fundamental demographic assumptions.

To determine the consistency of the pulmonary vasoconstrictor response to hypoxia, dogs were anesthetized, intubated, and ventilated alternately with air and 10% oxygen. Catheters were placed in the pulmonary artery for measurement of pulmonary artery pressure (PAP), pulmonary capillary wedge pressure, and cardiac output and in the femoral artery for monitoring systemic blood pressure and arterial blood gases. Arterial PCO2 and pH were kept at steady levels throughout by ventilating the dogs with a respirator so that only the isolated effect of hypoxia on the pulmonary vasculature was studied. It was found that there was a progressive rise in the PAP with repeated exposure to the same hypoxic stimulus. In 12 dogs, the mean increase in the PAP was 28% above the base line on the 1st hypoxic exposure, rising to 99% by the 10th exposure over the course of 5 h. It was concluded that interpretation of action of agents blocking or enhancing the hypoxic response must take into account this inherent potentiation of the response on repeated exposure to hypoxia.

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