The next National Population and Housing Census is slated for April 2013, the Statistician General of the Gambia Bureau of Statistics (GBoS), has told parliament.
Nyakassi MB Sanyang, who was presenting his bureau’s annual report and financial statements for 2011 before members of the Public Accounts/Enterprises Committees of the National Assembly on Wednesday, said the budget for the census activities in 2013 is estimated to be above US$4 million.
The 2013 census, the fifth of its kind since independence in 1965, is conducted every ten years, the last of which was in 2003.
He stated that thirteen regional offices are planned to be opened at least three months before the actual census count, and each office needs to be equipped with a pick-up vehicle.
“In light of the above, it is recommended that a donor conference be held to solicit more donor funding of the 2013 Population and Housing Census,” he added.
According to him, the census will, among others, improve the knowledge on the main characteristics of the population in the country, to better understand the interrelationships of population and development.
“It will also establish a geo-reference system of demographic and socio-economic information for planning and management,” he stated.
Sanyang told members of the committees that preparations for the 2013 Population and Housing Census were conducted in 2011, key among them being the mapping exercise.
He disclosed that for the first time, the Gambia is using modern GIS technology in census mapping. With this technology, he added, high quality census maps will be produced using satellite imagery and a GIS database be developed.
“The census is an extensive statistical inquiry that requires huge financial, material and human resources,” he said, adding that since 2010, Government and UNFPA are the financiers of the census preparatory activities.
Meanwhile, members of the PAC/PEC at the end of the session adopted the GBoS report.