Ghana’s first digitized census-estimated at GHc521m

Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has disclosed that the government has disbursed GHS449.7m for the 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC), estimated at GH₵521.3m.

The census slated for Sunday, June 27, 2021 has been lauded by Dr Bawumia as the first digitized census in the country.

The census was initially scheduled to be conducted in 2020 but had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) will this year conduct its first digital population and housing census focusing especially on five areas that will uniquely provide for our current transformation agenda,” said Dr Bawumia at the launch of the 100 days countdown to the Census Night in Accra on March 19.

“The 2021 census will provide updated information on the population and will track where we are on many fronts in our development path, including how close we are in pursuing the international, national, regional, and global development goals.”

Dr Bawumia noted at the programme that the 2021 Census will provide important data for the formulation of policies to transform Ghana’s economy and spur economic development.

“Knowing the dynamics of how the population is changing helps us in planning our education needs, where to locate health facilities, how to allocate our social expenditures and identify those who need help the most in our society,” he stressed.

Preparations for the Census have reached an advanced stage with several key activities like the delineation of the entire country into about 52,000 enumeration areas (EAs), finalisation of enumeration instruments and quality assurance procedures concluded.

In addition, three trial censuses, two trial post enumeration surveys and procurement of logistics have been completed while recruitment and training of approximately 75,000 census officials are undergoing training ahead of deployment.

Government Statistician, Dr Samuel Kobina Annim, outlined the modalities of the census. noting that although COVID-19 disrupted the census last year, the period was utilised in building census-related technological systems.

These technological systems help to integrate a range of data resources both in-country and abroad and abide by the protocol demands of COVID-19.

Loading of applications and census materials on the tablets for the exercise will begin on Monday, March 22, 2021.

“This activity is pivotal to the census and it is expected to be completed by end of April 2021,” he noted.

The next major activity would be the screening of the 170,000 enumerators and supervisors.

Training of enumerators will take place in April followed by the deployment and distribution of the logistics to all the 272 statistical districts.

The exercise will commence after the census night.