News / National
2012 national population census extended
24 Aug 2012 at 04:31hrs | Views
THE 2012 national population census is likely to be extended by two days in a bid to mop up areas that were problematic in terms of coverage, Zimbabwe National Statistical Agency (ZimStat), said yesterday.
In an interview yesterday, ZimStat census and surveys director Mr Washington Mapeta said the extension of the population census days was because of the fact that there are areas that need to be revisited.
The population census, which kicked off on 18 August, was scheduled to end on 28 August but the extension would see the country's fourth exercise of this kind winding off on 30 August.
"Some enumerators could be finishing the count today or tomorrow, but we are likely to extend the census to 30 August because we feel there are areas that need to be revisited.
"There are areas such as single person households, which were problematic especially in the event that the occupants of such houses were not there.
"It was a problem because if the occupants were not there, it meant that there was no data collected," said Mr Mapeta.
He said the two days' extension would therefore be set aside for the revisiting of such households and other areas.
"There are other areas that we covered, but we are still not satisfied, we can foresee that mopping should be done in such areas.
"The extension is mainly aimed at producing nothing but accurate results," said Mr Mapeta.
He said despite the extension, they were satisfied with the progress made so far.
"We cannot say we are excited with the progress made, but we are satisfied with how we have moved since the start of the exercise. The census teams out there have also worked so hard," said Mr Mapeta.
He said they were using a de facto counting method for the census, which meant that they were counting the number of people in a household on the day the enumerator visited.
A de facto census counts people where they are on census day and does not take into consideration their usual place of residence.
"This method is cheaper and dependable in the sense that it can produce much more reliable results, but we have incorporated features of a de jure method, whereby census enumerates people at their usual place of residence regardless of where they are on census day.
"This is why we ask people of the number of deaths per family from the beginning of the year," said Mr Mapeta.
The first census was conducted in 1982 and there were 7,6 million people in the country while in 1992 the population was 10,4 million and 10 years later, there were 11,6 million people.
In an interview yesterday, ZimStat census and surveys director Mr Washington Mapeta said the extension of the population census days was because of the fact that there are areas that need to be revisited.
The population census, which kicked off on 18 August, was scheduled to end on 28 August but the extension would see the country's fourth exercise of this kind winding off on 30 August.
"Some enumerators could be finishing the count today or tomorrow, but we are likely to extend the census to 30 August because we feel there are areas that need to be revisited.
"There are areas such as single person households, which were problematic especially in the event that the occupants of such houses were not there.
"It was a problem because if the occupants were not there, it meant that there was no data collected," said Mr Mapeta.
He said the two days' extension would therefore be set aside for the revisiting of such households and other areas.
"There are other areas that we covered, but we are still not satisfied, we can foresee that mopping should be done in such areas.
"The extension is mainly aimed at producing nothing but accurate results," said Mr Mapeta.
He said despite the extension, they were satisfied with the progress made so far.
"We cannot say we are excited with the progress made, but we are satisfied with how we have moved since the start of the exercise. The census teams out there have also worked so hard," said Mr Mapeta.
He said they were using a de facto counting method for the census, which meant that they were counting the number of people in a household on the day the enumerator visited.
A de facto census counts people where they are on census day and does not take into consideration their usual place of residence.
"This method is cheaper and dependable in the sense that it can produce much more reliable results, but we have incorporated features of a de jure method, whereby census enumerates people at their usual place of residence regardless of where they are on census day.
"This is why we ask people of the number of deaths per family from the beginning of the year," said Mr Mapeta.
The first census was conducted in 1982 and there were 7,6 million people in the country while in 1992 the population was 10,4 million and 10 years later, there were 11,6 million people.
Source - TC
