Liberia: President Weah to Set New Census Date

President George Weah is poised to set a new "Census Day" scheduled in October 2022, and thereafter communicate to the 54th Legislature to derive a Joint Resolution, the Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS) has disclosed.

In a press conference on May 18, LISGIS said the Legislature’s Joint Resolution will empower the Executive Branch of Government to issue a Proclamation announcing a final date to conduct the National  Population and Housing Census, which will be known as the Census Day.

Accordingly, the Presidential Proclamation will point out the important role the Census will play in identifying where resources are most needed.

The Presidential Proclamation will urge every Liberian to the official civic duty by participating in the 2022 Census.

The procedure (Census), enshrined in the Constitution, informs the Government’s responses to the evolving needs of Liberian communities for schools, hospitals, and other public works projects. 

This year’s census will, among other things, assess population growth. Getting the count right will help ensure that the districts and counties would receive developmental packages and accurate and proportional representation in the House of Representatives.

The Deputy Director General for Information and Coordination at LISGIS, Wilmot Smith told reporters on Capitol Hill that the 2022 National Population and Housing Census (NPHC) is not the first census to be taken in this country.

“Liberia has previously conducted four National Population and Housing Census (NPHC) censuses. The 1962 census, population was 1.1 million, in 1974, the population was 1.5 million, in 1984, the population was 2.1 million and in 2008, the population was 3.5 million inhabitants respectively,” Mr. Smith  said.  

“The 2022 NPHC will be the fifth census and the first fully digital census to be conducted since independence.”

Smith also told reporters that the Government of Liberia transferred US$3 million to the Census Basket Fund hosted by UNFPA to complete the government’s contribution for the conduct of the census.

“It is important to note here, ladies and gentlemen, that the Government of Liberia has contributed more money to the census basket fund than earlier promised. The Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS), is currently working with the National Legislature to derive a joint resolution which empowers the Executive Branch of Government to issue a Proclamation announcing a final date to conduct the main count respectively,” Smith  indicated. 

He furthered that it is important to emphasize that in consonance with the Government of Liberia’s short-term employment scheme, LISGIS has received from the public a little over 19,000 applications, which will be vetted and incorporated to provide their services to the census process. In addition, LISGIS will re-open the application platform to the public for at least two weeks in June for additional applications.

“The Mapping process, which is referred to as “structure marking” ended on 28th February 2022 with a total of 19,226 Enumeration Areas (EAs). However, the GIS Technicians and consultants are currently conducting a data clean-up exercise with the expectation of producing 14,500 enumeration areas after the current clean-up exercise," Smith  noted.

He emphasized that prior to the completion of the mapping process, a Pre-Test was carried out in December 2021, using a sample size of 228 enumeration areas. The reason for conducting the pre-test was to test the questionnaires, gadgets, all of the materials and tools which will be used for the main census. Results from the pre-test have been concluded and analyzed. 

“Presently, LISGIS has received 21,000 tablets and power banks from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) for the conduct of the main enumeration phase of the 2022 National Population and Housing census. LISGIS is currently preparing these tablets for data collection. The preparation activities include Installation of Maps, Geo-codes and other important software (CSPro).”