2010 Census To Be Released Today

The Ghana Statistical Service has told Citi News that provisional figures of the 2010 Population and Housing Census will be released on today January 31. The provisional results will give a general idea of the country’s population size which is expected to exceed 20 million. The exercise, which collected data on the composition and distribution of Ghana’s population, the residential accommodation and facilities in use, was characterised by various irregularities. Mr. Michael Adu-Gyamfi, Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Statistical Service gave the assurance that final figures will be released in the first quarter of 2012 after every Ghanaian has been enumerated. Data collected from the census is crucial in determining the development policy direction of the country. It was also an important source of comprehensive data on persons with disabilities, helping to assess their social and living conditions in terms of school attendance and educational attainment, employment, marital status and living arrangements. The 2010 Census was the first to include disability issues in the national exercise. 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.