Population census Tanzania - Tanzania will, for the first time since independence 50 years ago, count its citizens living abroad during a nationwide population census scheduled for 31 August 2012, the National Bureau of Statistics has announced.

Apart from updating data on the country’s social and economic progress, the census will also enable the government to evaluate the stage Tanzania has reached in implementing the globally agreed Millennium Development Goals, said the Bureau’s director-general, Albina Chuwa.

This will be Tanzania’s fifth population count which, Chuwa said, “requires reliable preparation because its success will depend on the questionnaire used to gather information from the people”.

“Getting the right and useful statistics will not be an easy task without asking questions that are understandable to people,” Chuwa told trainers on population and housing census meeting in Morogoro, 200 km west of here.

Tanzania conducts its population census once every 10 years. The country’s population, which was eight million at the time of independence in 1961, is currently put at 40 million.

According to government officials here, the official count of citizens living abroad would be conducted through diplomatic missions, but the exact procedure for the exercise is yet to be confirmed because Tanzania is not represented in many of the countries where they reside.

After their five-day workshop, the trainers will teach census coordinators in all regions of Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar Islands. A mock census will be conducted in select regions next month.

Pana 16/08/2011