Why all Tanzanians must be ready for the national census

One of the most important tools for national development planning is accurate population data. And it needs frequent updates because the population in developing economies like Tanzania is always on the rise. For many countries, the census is done after every ten years.

Tanzania carried out the last Population and Housing Census (PHC) in 2012, for the fifth time since independence. The 2012 population census’ results indicated a population of 43,625,354 million in Tanzania mainland, and 1,303,569 in Tanzania Zanzibar. The data, and projections, thereafter are vital in helping the nation execute its national plans in diverse sectors like health and education.

UN data estimates Tanzania 2020 population to be almost 60 million. It is essential to ascertain the data and check if the population has grown in less than nine years with about 20 million.

If you divide the number by nine years, we are talking of 2.2 million Tanzanians are born every year.

Let us take the nation to be a family. In your family, you must know how many mouths you need to feed daily. This will help you to plan the food budget, and would help you to plan where each child would sleep etc. Similarly for the government, apart from enabling it to plan for the health and education facilities, it also provides security and ensures law and order is maintained.

That means the government needs to know the number of its people for effective planning of developmental issues.

The government of President Samia Suluhu Hassan has announced the sixth population and housing census, which will take place in August 2022.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), this time the exercise would go digital and be very scientific. The government, private sector and civil society have a significant role in educating the larger masses, and the census is for Tanzania’s national good.

For those in academia and research institutes, often while collecting data, we face numerous challenges, including uncooperative individuals.

One of the weirdest things is when the local villagers, every time they see a researcher, they think s/he has ulterior motives.

In the 2012 population and housing census, some people had the wrong information, and they refused to be counted. Some would hide and go out of their houses deliberately after knowing that the census data collectors were just nearby to her/his area.

It is not only in Tanzania that we have people who refuse to be counted; other countries have also people who have done the same. For instance, there were media reports which indicated that millions of Americans refused to fill out the 2020 Census surveys. Many cited privacy concerns!

Recently, President Samia Suluhu Hassan launched ‘The Publicity and Advocacy Strategy for the National Population and Housing census, 2022.’

The drive is expected to sensitize and mobilize Tanzanians to be more cooperative in standing up, to be counted.

Let us take the case of health in our country. If about 2.2 million children are born every year, and the government provides exceptional health care to all children under 5 years, including vaccinations, the government must be aware of the numbers for planning.

Likewise, when we come to education provision, the census will be able to tell us more about how many classes, teachers, and teaching and learning materials etc we need for teaching and learning to be effective.

The importance of the census cannot be gainsaid. Apart from knowing the actual number of the people in the country at a particular time, it gives out an accurate picture of the structure of the society.

This includes how many dependants and how many taxable adults are there and this enables the government forecasting for economic needs.