Ghana conducts the Population and Housing Census (PHC) every ten years. However, due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 PHC for Ghana is slated for April and May 2021.
Professor Samuel Annim Kobina, the Government statistician and Chief Census Officer said on Wednesday, January 20, 2021, that the 2021 PHC will collect quality, relevant and timely data to be used for decision-making in a multitude of areas.
Professor Annim outlined four of several uses of the census data. According to him, census data is used to distribute local government funds annually, plan the location of public services based on population distribution, provide guidance in the creation of districts based on population size, as well as planning budgets for governments’ at all levels.
The 2021 population census will be the country’s first digital PHC which will involve the use of Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing devices (tablets) for electronic data capture and Geographic Positioning Systems (GPS) for recording coordinates of structures as recommended by the United Nations.
“Ghana 2021 PHC is fully digital, requiring the deployment of 75,000 tablets to be used by field personnel for identification of enumeration areas and data collection.
“So far, 43,180 new android tablets have been delivered. Pre-provisioning of the delivered tablets, which involves charging and manually checking each tablet for possible defects or malfunctions, has been completed” .
Ghana Statistical Service.
The pre-provisioning checks ensure that each tablet can power up and boot down, the serial numbers conform with factory settings, the dates and times are correct, the charger head and android cables are functioning, and the tablet screens have no cracks.
The GSS explained that the pre-provisioning is to prepare the tablets for the main provisioning, which will involve the uploading of the Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing software, enumeration and supervision area maps, and training materials onto the tablets.
One of the innovations of the 2021 PHC is the use of an online recruitment portal to identify suitable personnel who will be involved in the data collection exercise. The GSS stated that the 2021 PHC is leveraging the existing Ghana Statistical Service Enumerators’ Bureau to recruit about 85,000 field personnel including, Trainers, Supervisors, Enumerators, IT Officers, and Data Quality Monitors.
The 2021 PHC is being used to launch the maiden program for the pre-certification of trainers for field data collection in Ghana. The program aims at equipping trainers with improving content knowledge, communication, management, and leadership skills to effectively train others on a large and complex scale.
The pre-certification training started with a virtual orientation meant to sensitize National Trainers on the importance of censuses, census data, and their role as trainers.
The feedback from the trainees showed that the virtual training was a welcome innovation since participants were able to access the Learning Management System with their smartphones, even though internet connectivity was a challenge.
The GSS has pledged to enforce strict adherence to confidentiality, with all census field officers taking an oath of secrecy, affirming their commitment to fulfill their duties faithfully and honestly without disclosing any information which comes to their knowledge because of their engagement as census officials.
“Ghana 2021 PHC will be conducted in accordance with the Statistical Service Act, 2019 (Act 1003), which particularly stresses on confidentiality of the information collected from individuals. Census officials who violate this oath are guilty of an offense and liable to punishment (a fine, imprisonment, or both). Any person who fails to take the oath will not be allowed to work as a census official”.
Looking back
The first population census undertaken by the British Administration in the Gold Coast was in 1891. Since then, censuses have been conducted at ten yearly intervals except in 1941 when World War II (1939-45) interrupted the series.
Post-independence Ghana has witnessed five population censuses in 1960, 1970, 1984, 2000, and 2010. But for the COVID-19, the sixth post-independence census should have been conducted in 2020.
The population census in 1960 counted about 6.7 million inhabitants, 8.5 million people in 1970, and 12.3 million in 1984. The population of Ghana in 2000 was 18.9 million. Ghana’s population increased by 30.4 percent over the 2000 population to 24.7 million according to the final results of the 2010 PHC. Estimates from GSS shows that the population of Ghana stands at 31 million as of May 2020.
Per the current estimates, female dominance continues in Ghana. For all ages, 15,231,057 males compared to 15,724,147 females whilst for age 18 and above, there are 8,154,197 males and 8,955,073 females.
