Minister of Finance and National Planning Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane has said the recently released details of the 2022 census of population and housing are critical to sound decision-making in development planning, resource allocation and policy formulation.
According to the Zambia Statistics Agency, Zambia’s population as of 8th September 2022 was 19,610,769.
The male population was 9,603,056 and the female population was 10,007,713.
Dr. Musokotwane said the census of population and housing is the benchmark for key national indicators and statistics that, if well used, could support the socio-economic transformation of the country.
“The government of the republic of Zambia conducted the country’s sixth census of population and housing, between 18th august and 14th September 2022. A seven-day mop-up was undertaken from 15th to 21st September 2022 for quality assurance, and to ensure all persons reporting not being counted were enumerated, especially in the hard-to-enumerate and high-density areas. The theme for the 2022 e-census was ‘everyone counts’. This was in recognition of the importance of enumerating every household and institution in order to ensure inclusive planning and sustained national development. Let me inform you that the country has maintained its proud record of consistently conducting a population census since 1969 which is also in line with international statistical standards for undertaking censuses of population,” Dr. Musokotwane stated.
Dr. Musokotwane said despite some challenges faced at the commencement of the exercise, particularly in urban areas, the 2022 e-census was successfully undertaken as it achieved universal coverage.
“You may be aware that this is the first time our country has conducted an electronic census (e-census) through the use of tablets. This is a notable improvement in our statistical practices and a major departure from the last five censuses which were paper-based. Further, in order to improve the census coverage, satellite technology was used to create electronic maps for use by the more than 40, 000 census field staff. I would like to inform the nation that despite some challenges faced at the commencement of the exercise, particularly in urban areas, the 2022 e-census was successfully undertaken as it achieved universal coverage.This means that data collection was conducted in all the 38,570 enumeration areas countrywide.”
Dr. Musokotwane said the census provides data up to the lowest administrative unit – the ward thereby making development planning easier.
“I commend the Zambia statistics agency for adopting digital technology. This is also in line with the 7th statistical commission recommendation for countries to adopt digital solutions and new technologies in order to increase the reliability and accessibility of census products and other statistics in a cost-effective manner. The census of population and housing is the benchmark for key national indicators and statistics that, if well used, could support the socio[1]economic transformation of our country. For the public sector, census information is critical to sound decision making in development planning, resource allocation and policy formulation. This data will be particularly important in assisting governments allocate resources in an appropriate manner – such as cdf, and effectively provide public services to enhance the livelihoods of our people. This is made possible as the census provides data up to the lowest administrative unit – the ward. Among the indicators to be provided are population growth rates and density, sex and age disaggregation, average household size, and rural and urban population. For the private sector, census data is key for investment planning, including service and product development, which ultimately impacts on growth and job creation. At regional and international levels, information from the census serves to monitor our progress on the 4 various goals and targets such as the United Nations 2030 agenda for sustainable development and the African union Agenda 2063,” he said.
Dr. Musokotwane hailed stakeholders support towards the census.
“Government therefore attaches a lot of importance to this census and provides adequate resources to ensure its successful implementation. i am delighted that this morning, the 2022 census preliminary report will be disseminated to the wider public. Key indicators of this preliminary report as well as other reports to be published will also be accessed through a mobile app “census executive monitor” and these indicators can be viewed as tables and charts.The success of the 2022 e-census would not have been possible without the support of several stakeholders which include cooperating partners, namely, un family – [unfpa, unicef, uneca], US census bureau and the world bank. For the first time, the private sector also played an instrumental role in supporting the census publicity activities. These include New horizon printers, Proprint ltd, Ecobank Zambia ltd, Zanaco, and Choppies supermarket ltd. The government of the republic of Zambia is grateful for the support rendered to the 2022 e-census. I would like to thank all the census field staff who worked diligently for long hours to ensure that everyone is counted. Lastly, my sincere gratitude goes to the people of Zambia for participating in the 2022 e-census of population and housing. I take this opportunity to also thank all those households participating in the on-going 2022 post enumeration survey (pes). The pes is a standard post census activity to evaluate the census for coverage and content soundness,” Dr. Musokotwane concluded.
“i am delighted that this morning, the 2022 census preliminary report will be disseminated to the wider public. Key indicators of this preliminary report as well as other reports to be published will also be accessed through a mobile app”-LT.
When are you going to publish? Which Provinces Most Dependent on the GRZ? And which provinces Which Pay The Most GRZ Taxes?
Provinces which pay the most tax: Copperbelt, Lusaka, Central, Northwestern and Southern. Provinces which eat the most taxes: Luapula, Northern, Muchinga and Eastern. Province which pays as much as it takes in: Western. Just my predictions
Have the census enumerators been paid? What I know for sure is that the abducted girls in Chalala were not counted. The issue of conducting census is old school. The collection of such data these days is done in real time using various technologies such use recording children at birth and those that die at death. Border controls, schools, heat signature using various technologies as satellite CCTV etc. We do not have to wait decades and use inaccurate methods of teenagers being violated while visiting people’s homes. Illegal immigrates also go in to hiding when such manual methods are used.
Aba nabo ni mfula… when has a census been not successful in this country?