Final few hours to complete Scottish census form
The deadline has already been pushed back because too few households had filled out the survey.
People across Scotland have just one day left to complete the once-in-a-decade census.
Today is the last chance to complete the form and provide key information that will help guide future decisions about services and policies.
Experts have pointed to the power of census data in improving Scotland before and said it is just as vital to continue the practice this year.
Tahitia McCabe, genealogist at the University of Strathclyde, said: “The main pluses of using a census is that we can go back and find out what people did and where they were.
"It brings peoples ancestors to life. It’s a really great way of finding people throughout history.
“It allows us to get a broader sense of the numbers of people who were shifting from one industry to another, what areas of the country were booming while others were declining and ask why.
“We can also see what governments were interested in. Every census is different. On the current census there are so many questions that haven’t been asked before.”
Ms McCabe said that if too few people fill out the census it would leave questions unanswered and impede future generations from making valuable decisions like funding and how to improve quality of life, for example.
She added: “I would say to people, send your voice forward and make your stamp on future history by telling people your current story. Make yourself count – it’s really important.”
According to the National Records of Scotland (NRS), around 86% of households have returned the form – more than two million filled out the questionnaire online and 250,000 submitted a paper copy.
The NRS is hoping to achieve a return rate of at least 85% in all 32 of Scotland’s councils, and a 92.4% return rate nation wide.
The deadline for completing the survey was originally set for May 1 but was extended with the aim of encouraging more responses as council areas such as Glasgow were yet to hit the target.
NRS chief executive Paul Lowe said: "It was great last week to cross the 85% response rate nationally – a major milestone in the census – and to see 25 local authorities exceeding their local target of 85%.
"I want to say a huge thank you to each and every household across the country who has done their bit.”
Mr Lowe encouraged people to complete the census on time or they would miss their chance and “regret not taking part."
He added: "Big decisions about our local communities and our nation as a whole are based on census data. Everyone's circumstances need to be captured to ensure the best decisions are taken, so please complete now."
The Scottish Government has been criticised for the handling of the census as delays added an extra £9.76 million to the total bill which now stands at £148 million.
Liberal Democrat MSP Willie Rennie said there will "need to be some soul-searching in the Scottish Government over how this was allowed to go so wrong".
"From the decision to detach the census from its counterpart elsewhere in the UK, to the complexities of filling in the survey online, the Scottish Government has not covered itself in glory," he said.
"This matters because the census helps to inform how public services are delivered for the next decade. The minister needs to set out what kind of review of the census process will be done and how the Government will be filling in the blanks."
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