A group of women dressed in green sarong-like longyis and simple white blouses stand around a table piled with census forms, entering neat notations on spreadsheets by hand.
The women will have to go through 37,579 family census forms, according to officials, using calculators to tally the total numbers because they have no access to computers.
The scene underscores the challenges of carrying out a census in this poor and sprawling, predominantly Buddhist nation. It was supposed to end last Thursday, but was extended on Saturday until the end of May, due to "technical and logistical problems."
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