GOVERNMENT has announced that the 6th National Census of Population and Housing will take place on 18th August to 14th September.

In a statement, Sunday, Secretary to the Treasury Felix Nkulukusa said the designation of census dates would enable the Zambia Statistics Agency (ZamStats) to intensify preparations.

“The Government of the Republic of Zambia has issued a Statutory Instrument to gazette the period 18 August, 2022 to 14 September, 2022 as the official dates for the country to undertake the 6th National Census of Population and Housing. The Statutory Instrument (No. 92 of 2021) was signed by the Minister of Finance and National Planning, Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane, MP, and gazetted on 31st December, 2021,” he stated.

“The designation of Census dates will now enable the Zambia Statistics Agency (ZamStats) to intensify preparations. The Zambia Statistics Agency is mandated to conduct the Census of Population and Housing (CPH) every ten years as per Statistics Act No. 13 of 2018.”

He said the upcoming census would adopt computer assisted personal interview techniques which would involve gathering information with the use of an electronic questionnaire on computer tablets.

“The upcoming CPH will adopt the Computer-Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) technique. This will involve gathering information with the use of an electronic questionnaire, on computer tablets. This is a complete departure from the previous censuses which were paper-based and is meant to introduce cost effectiveness in the collection and processing of data. ZamStats will soon release the Census roadmap, outlining key activities leading to the 2022 National Census of Population and Housing,” said Nkulukusa.

Zambia’s Sixth National Census was initially scheduled to take place in August 2020 but was postponed to 2021 due to funding challenges.

There were also delays in two critical pre-census processes, namely; mapping and listing; and the pilot census.