Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) will undertake a trial population and housing census in May this year ahead of the main census in 2020. The trial census is to provide a base for accurate report and data collection.
Addressing the media on Wednesday, the Government Statistician, Prof. Samuel Kobbina Annim said logistical challenges will not hold back the trial, ahead of preparations for the 2020 census.
“We need to get the 2020 census properly done, so that the base by which we do our market, living standards, demographics and health survey will be grounded on solid and accurate data, moving forward,” he said.
He also observed that the country had seen tremendous changes since the last census was conducted in 2010, hence the need for another exercise to help update the data that the service worked with.
Ghana’s census history dates back to 1891, when it conducted its first under Britsh rule.
As an independent nation, Ghana has had five censuses, the most recent one being in 2010 when the population was found to be 24.7 million people.
Ghana’s population is now variously estimated at 28.8 million.
The country also previously had censuses in 1960, 1970, 1984 and 2000. The country is supposed to undertake a census exercise after every 10 years.
Prof. Annim stressed that a population census was an integral part of national development and called on all Ghanaians to participate fully in the trial census that would form the base of the main exercise next year.
“For all the releases that we do, be they micro or macro data, it is underscored by the census. The census provides the base for all that we do. If we get the census wrong, then we will have challenges,” he said.
