Population and housing census has begun in Mozambique

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Population and housing census has begun in Mozambique

7:31 CAT | 02 Aug 2017

Notícias /From left to right: INE's chairman Rosário Fernandes, President Filipe Nyusi and Firt Lady Isaura Nyusi

The 4th Population and Housing Census began this Tuesday across the country, with the Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi, and his family, being the first to participate in the exercise that will take place over the next two weeks.

Speaking shortly after fulfilling his duty, an event that took place in the presidential palace in the capital Maputo, Nyusi urged all citizens living in Mozambique to collaborate with the census teams, irrespective of their nationality, religion and ideological orientation.

“I’ve already fulfilled my duty. I facilitated the process. My family and I are dully counted. I would like to seize this opportunity to, once again, urge and appeal to the entire Mozambican population and everyone living in Mozambique to join the process,” said Nyusi.

He explained the importance of everyone joining the exercise, saying that census will facilitate policy and decision making processes for the well-being of the people, since it will provide “accurate” data on where the government should build schools, hospitals, among other facilities by looking at the population density.

“We will have a number closer to reality. The important thing is to make it easier for census takers. Let’s provide the required information”, said the President.

He stressed that it is not a political act, since it’s a necessity and an action of sovereignty.

“Let’s count Mozambique. Let’s know who we are. We are people, we are a nation. We need to know who we are, where we are and how many we are and what we need”, he concluded.

The census team was led by Rosário Fernandes, President of the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

Fernandes said he hoped for a massive participation of all residents in the process.

Speaking recently to AIM, the spokesperson for the National Statistics Institute (INE), Cirilo Tembe said that the full census, including all stages, would cost 79 million USD and involve about 120,000 people.

The World Bank has allocated 25 million dollars, whilst the Mozambican government has provided 10 million dollars. Other contributors are Sweden, Italy, and Indonesia.

Last week, the World Bank donated 131 vehicles, 750 motorcycles and 10 thousand bicycles to the INE which will be distributed throughout all 11 Mozambican provinces.

The vehicles, motorbikes and bicycles will be incorporated in the State assets at the end of the process.

Since independence, Mozambique has carried out three population censuses – in 1980, 1997 and 2007. Based on projections from the 2007 census, the INE estimates the current population is 26.4 million. The country is still overwhelmingly rural, with 17.9 million people living in the countryside, and 8.5 million living in urban areas.