Date set for next year’s census

• Women are opting to have more children than expected

Kenya’s population will be counted on the night of August 24 next year.

Planning minister Wycliffe Oparanya said he had gazetted the date for the National Population and Housing Census, which is conducted every 10 years.

The announcement comes as the country celebrates the African Statistics Day on Tuesday.

“I have gazetted the census to provide a legal basis for its undertaking,” Mr Oparanya said.

The census will record new features, including data on disability and recent deaths, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The last census, conducted in 1999, showed that Kenya’s population was 28 million.

After the count, initial projections showed that the population would have been about 35 million, with the population expected to hit 36 million in 2010.

But recently, National Coordinating Agency for Population and Development director Boniface K’Oyugi said the projections had been revised to 38 million.

“We will be conducting the census next year to test our projection figures” he said.

Dr K’Oyugi said more Kenyan women were choosing to have more children than earlier expected.

Government statistics show what appears to be a fertility increase after a decline over the previous two decades.

Total fertility rates had dropped from 8.1 births per woman in 1978 to 4.7 in 1998 when the Kenya Demographic Health Survey was conducted. The fertility level rose to 4.9 in 2003.

One of the most basic administrative uses of census data has been in the demarcation of constituencies, which the Electoral Commission hoped to revise even before the last General Election.

Rising prices

“Census data also forms part of key criteria for a rational allocation of resources as done for the Local Authority Transfer Fund and Constituency Development Fund,” said a report from the CBS.