2017 Census to Cost US$75 million

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2017 Census to Cost US$75 million

3:27 CAT | 15 Mar 2016

Mozambique’s fourth population census, scheduled for August 2017, will cost US$75 million (EUR67.5 million )’ the Swedish government, which is financing the operation, announced on Monday.

According to Swedish ambassador Irina Schoulgin Nyoni, the census will provide desegregated (broken down) data, including from smaller administrative units, facilitating efforts towards equitable growth.

“The data is also important as a way of monitoring the implementation of the government’s Five-Year Plan and Sustainable Development Goals,” the ambassador said.

The census will also provide a framework for data collection between censuses, critical to monitoring sustainability indicators.

The estimate of the costs of the operation is contained in a joint statement of the parties involved in preparing the Census, namely the National Statistics Institute (INE), the Embassy of Sweden, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

The census is supported by the Government and international partners, and Sweden is so far the only partner that provided direct funding of about US$2.9 million.

“The current funding gap is about US$32 million, of which US$5.3 million will be needed for the current year,”says the statement cited by AIM.

According to the statement, INE is currently looking for financing alternatives “since the government of Mozambique plans to allocate 53 percent of the total cost of the Census”.

UNFPA and USAID are partners that have supported the technical training and operating device preparation as well as the cartographic update.

Isaltina Lucas, president of the National Institute of Statistics, says that the census will address the scarcity of quality data.

“The census will help us better understand the living conditions of people and determine the [levels of] social, demographic and economic exclusion throughout the country,” Lucas said.

Mozambique’s last population census in 2007 found that the population was 20.3 million, with projections pointing to a figure in excess of 24 million this year.

Source: Lusa /AIM