  Determining the demographics of the Galactic planetary nebula (PN) population
is an important goal to further our understanding of this intriguing phase of
stellar evolution. The Galactic population has more than doubled in number over
the last 15 years, particularly from narrowband \ha\ surveys along the plane.
In this review I will summarise these results, with emphasis on the time
interval since the last IAU Symposium. These primarily optical surveys are not
without their limitations and new surveys for PNe in the infrared similarly
face a number of challenges. I will discuss the need for multi-wavelength
approaches to discovery and analysis. The desire to have accurate
volume-limited samples of Galactic PNe at our disposal is emphasised, which
will be impacted with new data from the Gaia satellite mission. We need robust
surveys of PNe and their central stars, especially volume-limited surveys, in
order to clarify and quantify their evolutionary pathways.
