Population census ends today

Counting for the 2022 population and housing census ends today, with those that were not found at home by enumerators being counted in a mop-up exercise which started yesterday.

The count is to find out how many people were in Zimbabwe on the night of April 20, with the counting starting that night for special groups.

Preliminary results of the census are expected after three months.

The enumerators went out from April 21, knocking on doors and were still doing this yesterday, as they returned to homes they had not found anyone and where they left notices, as part of the mop-up exercise.

They have been getting responses, with people yet to be counted calling the enumerators from Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat) wanting to be counted, given the importance of the data collected in informing policy formulation.

The census is conducted after every 10 years.

In an interview yesterday, ZimStat director-general Mr Taguma Mahonde said everything had been done according to plan and they were now finalising the process.

He encouraged those missed to approach ZimStat offices or call the toll free number so that enumerators can visit their households and count them.

"Everything has been done and we are currently doing a mop up operation for those who feel that they have not been counted," said Mr Mahonde.

"We have alerted those who want to be counted on various media platforms to approach our offices or call us and we have started to receive calls from other people who want to be counted. Everything is on course and we have also improved the quality of the data which is being collected."

The census was officially launched on Wednesday last week with marches in all major towns across the country's 10 provinces where people were being urged to participate while being handed over flyers and pamphlets with information on the enumeration exercise.

ZimStat is in charge of conducting the census which provides critical information that informs policy formulation and this is the first time Zimbabwe is conducting a housing census which seeks to establish the quality of life of Zimbabweans.

Enumerators have been visiting all households and residential institutions across the country asking questions pertaining to social-economic and demographic characteristics of households, for example, the age groups they belong to, the levels of education, the category of work they do, whether they own the home, the sort of fuel used in their kitchen and the like.

The final results of the census are expected to be announced after six months instead of the previous two years.

For the first time in the history of Zimbabwe, ZimStat developed a dashboard to monitor the enumeration process and what is happening on the field and a data quality management team to monitor all the data which was being collected by enumerators during the census.

ZimStat had an army of 40 500 enumerators recruited from across the country's 10 provinces to conduct the census.

The census exercise has received an overwhelming response from the nation with Harare residents welcoming the exercise saying it was good for them to know how many people are in the country.