Census field enumeration hits 90 per cent completion mark

Accra, Oct. 19, GNA - Dr Grace Bediako, Government Statistician, on Tuesday said the field enumeration of the 2010 Population and Housing Census had hit 90 per cent completion point.

She gave the regional statistics as Upper West, 98 per cent, Eastern Region, 97 per cent, Upper East, 96 per cent, Volta Region, 95 per cent, Western Region, 93 per cent, Northern Region, 92 per cent, Central Region 92 per cent, Ashanti Region, 91 per cent, Brong Ahafo Region, 90 per cent and Greater Accra Region 85 per cent. Speaking at a media briefing in Accra on the "Status of Field Enumeration," Dr Bediako said while the enumeration was substantially completed in most part of the country, "there are still some pockets across board yet to be enumerated".

Dr Bediako was flanked by the Deputy Minister of Information, Mr James Agyenim-Boateng and Dr Philomena Nyarko, Deputy Statistician in Charge of Operations.

She explained that the 10 per cent areas to be covered include areas currently inaccessible - flooded areas, large enumeration areas and some selected households missed or not available to be enumerated during the period.

The Government Statistician assured the public that the Census Secretariat had adopted mopping up methodology to enumerate the remaining 10 per cent. "The mopping up exercise will continue to ensure that every one is counted.

"Teams have been constituted in each district to respond to all types of requests to ensure that everybody is enumerated," she said. Dr Bediako said the secretariat had dealt mostly with the initial operation challenges - boundary disputes, ethnicity classification problems, and other minor infractions that field enumerators encountered.

She encouraged people who have not been enumerated to contact the Secretariat through Toll free - 0800 10042 or hotlines: 0302 689 621, 0302 689 625, and mobile numbers 028 955 3888 or 028 955 3889 for assistance.

More than 55,000 people were trained as enumerators by the Ghana Statistical Office out of which 51,985 were deployed to the field - 38,255 enumerators; 7,686 supervisors; 688 senior supervisors, 2,963 working on institutional and floating populations, and 2,293 on standby. The census is to collect detailed statistics on the size of the population for effective planning. The exercise is also to collect data on the composition and distribution of Ghana's population, the residential accommodation and facilities in use. Dr Bediako assured pockets of communities with some form of challenge to allow the enumeration to proceed whilst the secretariat made efforts to resolve them.

She said the information being collated would be crucial in determining the development policy direction of the county. Ghana has had 10 population censuses since 1891. The last population census was in 2000 when 18.9 million people were counted. Estimates have put Ghana's population at 23.4 million.