Around half the countries in Africa are scheduled to hold censuses during the next two years as part of the 2020 census round which spans from 2015-24. So far around 165,000 devices and field workers have been deployed and 50,000 tress saves (although electrons have suffered instead!).
The purpose of censuses is to provide data on demographics and economic characteristics, for well-informed decision and policymaking. Thus they are critical, and ECA has worked with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), The African Union Commission (AUC), African Development (AFDB) and more to ensure their success!
Unfortunately, due to Covid-19, there have been many postponements to censuses. However, with the severity of Covid-19 cases falling, and practical measures put in place to reduce the risk of spread of infection, censuses will resume in full swing this year!
This year 13 countries are scheduled to complete the census. The full list of Member States for this year and those that have completed are provided in full detail in the table/infographic below.
ECA’s role will be to roll out its tailored census package to these countries. This package includes provisioning to upload the relevant documents on tablets quickly, cost-effectively and efficiently, a dashboard that monitors daily inflows of data, problem reporting mechanisms, and a management dashboard.