07 Mar 2022

Population and housing census is much more than population count, as it is also a source of data for socio economic characteristics of the population, says District Census Officer, Ms Tshoganetso Paphane.

Speaking during a census mobilisation and sensitisation kgotla meeting in New Xade recently, Ms Paphane said the census provided overall view of population demographics.

“It gives the profile or structure of the population in terms of gender, economic activity, marital status, age and other relevant information, which gives an overall view of population,” she explained.

This information, she said, informed government policy on development and service delivery. 

For example, government would consider the number of women of childbearing age to decide whether to build a maternity wing or not  in a given location, she said.  

It would do likewise with all other developments. All the critical data would have been gathered during the census, she said.

She explained that even newly born babies must be counted so that all could be catered for in the next 10 years.

In his welcome remarks, Kgosi Lobatse Beslag of New Xade encouraged residents to take part in the census as numbers motivated economic development.

One resident, Mr James Kilo urged members of the community to allow for counting of all those residing with them, including people with disabilities and the sick as their numbers were also crucial. BOPA