2010 Population and Housing Census

On the eve of 26th September 2010, Ghana began its population and housing census to confirm the nation’s 24.5 million population estimate. Ekow Essabra-Mensah looks at the issues.

At midnight on Sunday, 26th September, the siren of the General Post Office clock in Accra sounded - apparently to click an imaginary camera that took a picture of all people resident in Ghana at the time and therefore qualified to be counted no matter their nationality, profession, sex or mental condition.

This was to ensure the enumeration of the floating population included guests in hotels, passengers of all modes of transportation, and people without permanent residential structures such as head-porters, the destitute, vagrants and lunatics.

The Population Census, which takes two-weeks and ends on October 12, is to be a completed process of collection, reception, assessment, analysis, publication and distribution of demographic, economic and social data which relate at a given moment in time to all the residents of a country or of a well-defined partial geographic area as reflected in the Population and Housing Censuses Handbook of the UN, 1992.

The United Nations defines the essential features of population and housing censuses as "individual enumeration, universality within a defined territory, simultaneity and defined periodicity", and recommends that population censuses be taken at least every 10 years.

In most countries of the world, a population census is conducted once every ten years. In a number of countries such as Japan, Austria and Canada, a census is held more frequently, once every five years.

In the '50's of the 20th century, 80% of the world's population was estimated by censuses. Today, almost the entire world's population is enumerated once every decade by various types of censuses, and in some cases once every five years (e.g., Australia, Canada, Japan and Sweden).

The word "census", which is from a Latin verb 'censere', which means - contrary to what's expected - not 'to count' but rather 'to assess', or in a term closer to the world of statistics, 'to estimate' (the Encyclopedia Americana, 1951). The term itself was developed during the Roman Republic; the census was a list that kept track of all adult males fit for military service.

As strange as it may sound, despite the great progress made in this field there is no practical method for determining accurately and completely the size and characteristics of any large population. The census, therefore, proves only an agreed-upon estimate - but it is a good estimate.

Ghana’s post-independence census development

Ghana's first post-independence population census in 1960 counted about 6.7 million inhabitants. By 1970s the national census registered 8.5 million people, about a 27 percent increase, while the most recent official census in 1984 recorded a figure of 12.3 million--almost double the 1960 figure.

The nation's population was estimated to have increased to about 15 million in 1990 and to an estimated 17.2 million in mid-1994. With an annual growth rate of 2.2 percent for the period between 1965 and 1980, a 3.4 percent growth rate for 1981 through 1989, and a 1992 growth rate of 3.2 percent, the country's population was projected to surpass 20 million by the year 2000.

Increasing population is reflected in other statistical representations as well. Between 1965 and 1989, a constant 45 percent of the nation's total female population was of childbearing age. The crude birth rate of 47 per 1,000 of population recorded for 1965 dropped to 44 per 1,000 of population in 1992.

Also, the crude death rate of 18 per 1,000 of population in 1965 fell to 13 per 1,000 of population in 1992, while life-expectancy rose from a 1970-1975 average of forty-two years for men and 45 years for women to 52 and 56 years, respectively, in 1992.

The 1965 infant mortality rate of 120 per 1,000 live births also improved to 86 per 1,000 live births in 1992. With the fertility rate averaging about seven children per adult female and expected to fall to only five children per adult female by the year 2000, the population projection of 35 million in 2025 becomes more credible.

A number of factors, including improved vaccination against common diseases and nutritional education through village and community health-care systems, contributed to the expanding population. The rise in the nation's population generated a corresponding rise in the demand for schools, health facilities, and urban housing.

The gender ratio of the population, 97.3 males to 100 females, was reflected in the 1984 figures of 6,063,848 males to 6,232,233 females. This was slightly below the 1970 figure of 98 males to 100 females, but a reversal of the 1960 ratio of 102.2 males to 100 females. The fall in the proportion of males to females may be partly attributed to the fact that men have left the country in pursuit of jobs.

Also significant in the 1984 census figures was the national age distribution. About 58 percent of Ghana's population in 1984 was either under the age of twenty or above sixty-five.

Approximately seven million people were represented in this category, about four million of them under the age of 10 and therefore economically unproductive. The large population of young, economically unproductive individuals appeared to be growing rapidly. In the early 1990s, about half of country's population was under age 15.

If the under-twenty group and those above the age of 60 are regarded as a dependent group, the social, political, and economic implications for the 1990s and beyond are as grave for Ghana as they are for sub-Saharan Africa as a whole.

The last population census held in 2000 recorded a population of 18,912,079, with an estimated 24.5 million people expected to be enumerated in the 2010 census - while approximately 35 million people are expected by 2025.

Importance of population census

Censuses are an important source of information on the population of the country, and on the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the population at the national and local levels.

It is one of the most important sources of information that provide a basis for the official statistics of the country. It provides the fullest and most reliable picture of the country's population and its characteristics at the "Determinant Date" (a particular point in time to which the census relates).

In the census, data is collected at a specified time from the entire population - in contrast to other surveys in which information is collected from only a small part of the residents, and from which conclusions are reached regarding the general population.

These organisations safeguard the uniformity of census definitions in order to make possible international comparisons which assist in understanding the demographic and social conditions in specific countries.

“There is no doubt the Population and Housing Census is a unique data source that provides benchmark information for effective planning and good governance at all levels,” Dr. Duffuor said, adding that the private sector stands to gain tremendously from properly documented demographics in their long-term planning.

Dr. Grace Bediako, Government Statistician, stressed that the census will provide current socio-economic data, vital for effective planning both at the national and sub-national levels, including data from newly-created districts.
2010 Census and Matters Arising

Investment and commitment from public and private sector

The Census was estimated to cost at some US$50million (GH¢70million) of which government was to provide about 90 percent of the funding.
Of this amount needed, the 2009 Budget made a provision of GH¢8million and the current budget allocated GH¢32million – in all representing about 58 percent of the total financial requirement.

The country’s development partners also contributed just over GH¢5.5million, bringing the total amount to just over GH¢45million.

Industrialists persistently argued that government policies have not gone far enough to support local enterprise to be competitive against their foreign counterparts, contending that successive governments have rather sought to outdo each other in attracting foreign direct investments while counting on ever-dwindling development partner support for national development.

These were made known by the private sector towards supporting government in closing a gaping GH¢25 million hole in the budget for the National Population and Housing Census,

“Considering that we undertake the exercise every 10 years, we could have been making provisions towards it in every annual budget since the last exercise, and that would have eliminated the current pressure.”

For the major exercise, over 45,000 volunteers - mainly students from the tertiary institutions -were recruited by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) and they are to be deployed nationwide to do the counting.

Challenges

Shortage of materials

The 2010 Population and Housing Census has been facing challenges including logistics, materials, questionnaires; and in some cases lack of funds to carry out the exercise have been reported as inadequate.
Complains revealed that some enumerators experienced shortage of materials among other problems.

Again, eight days into the Census, enumeration in some parts of Tema, Ashiaman, Kpone and the Ledzokuku-Krowor areas seem to have been halted following shortage of logistics.

Senior Census Officer at Kpone, Samuel Akpeng, said most of the enumerators do not have enough questionnaires to complete the exercise.

This, he said, hinders the solicitation and recording of accurate information as some of the enumerators abandon the exercise mid-way with a promise of continuing at a later date.

He also complained about the unwillingness of some residents to provide detailed information and the ejection of the enumerators by some residents from their homes.

Enumerators in Tema suffer a similar fate as they face logistical constraints daily.
An enumerator in the Ledzokuku-Krowor Municipality, Seth Tsey, said the exercise was halted over the weekend due to inadequate questionnaires.

However, the Ledzokuku-Krowor Municipal Statistician, George Agbenyo , said some of the materials for the exercise have been supplied yesterday and are being distributed to the enumerators to continue working.

Three enumerators in the Gomoa East District of the Central Region are alleged to have absconded with GH¢600 and materials for the exercise.

The three were said to have absconded with the money which covers transportation allowances for field enumerators and supervisors and materials for the exercise.

Going forward

Ghana, over the past half decade, has been struggling to roll-out a national biometric identification that will enable the proper tracking of the national demographics.

Analysts have contended that the current census is of critical importance, given that the country will become a net oil exporter by the close of the year - and expectations are that there will be an influx of immigrants from neighbouring countries. There is therefore need to have an accurate figure for the population to help in assessing the expected added pressures from migrants.

Processing of census data is expected to be completed in early 2011 and dissemination of the data then commences immediately - and is expected to run through 2012.