2022 Census preps begin

Source: 2022 Census preps begin | The Herald October 1, 2019

Prof Ncube

Farirai Machivenyika Senior Reporter
Government has begun preparations for the 2022 Population and Housing Census which is held in terms of the Census and Statistics Act, which requires that it be held every 10 years. Cabinet yesterday approved the memorandum for the programme.

Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa made the announcement while briefing journalists after yesterday’s Cabinet meeting.

“Cabinet considered and approved a memorandum on the Zimbabwe 2022 Population and Housing Census as presented by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development (Professor Mthuli Ncube). The Minister informed Cabinet that Zimbabwe was due to carry out a population and housing census in 2022 as required by the Census and Statistics Act, which stipulates that a national census be undertaken every ten years.

“A key objective of the census is to improve knowledge on the social, demographic and economic characteristics of the population of Zimbabwe in order to facilitate the formulation and implementation of viable national strategies.

“Cabinet further endorsed the various timelines and schedule of activities to be undertaken in the period before, during and in the aftermath of the census.”

Prof Ncube said the census would require $85 million.

“This is a major undertaking; the process has already started in terms of the preparations. We have to design the questionnaires and the training of the enumerators and to make sure that we have vehicles. It’s very heavy on logistics and we also have to issue a Statutory Instrument which will enable us to do this. The census is carried out after every 10 years. We did the last one in 2012 and the next one will be in 2022, it’s almost mandatory,” he said.

Prof Ncube said they would train up to 37 000 enumerators and would carry out a trial run in August 2021 while the main programme would be held on August 17 the following year.

“We are going to use technology to collect data and this will enable faster data collection and also more efficient analysis.

“So we are going to produce figures and numbers within six months unlike in the past when it used to take two years, so by March 2023, the figures would be ready and published,” said Prof Ncube.

He said some of the issues they will look at include fertility, income distribution levels, and poverty levels, among others.

Government will use the data to fine tune its policies to improve the living standards of citizens.