Rwanda is planning to conduct the 5th General Population and Housing Census by August, according to the Nation Institute of statistics of Rwanda (NISR).
An initial census is going on starting with selective villages and 28,000 primary school teachers who applied for the job have been selected so far.
The fourth Population and Housing Census conducted in August 2012 indicated that the total population of Rwanda was 10,515,973 persons including 5,451,105 females representing 51.8% and 5,064,868 males as 48.2% of the population.
At the same time, the 2012 census counted 511,738 elderly persons (60 years and above) corresponding to 4.9% of the population with 207,239 men and 304,499 women, while the youth between the ages of 14 to 35 years, were 4,166,777 corresponding to 40% of the total population.
Also according to the previous census, the Eastern Province is the most populated with 2,595,703 inhabitants, followed by the Southern Province with 2,589,975 inhabitants while Kigali City has the smallest population with 1,132,686 inhabitants.
In districts, Gasabo district is the most populated with more than 500,000 inhabitants and Nyarugenge district the least populated with less than 300,000 inhabitants according.
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At the time, the Northern Province was having 1,726,370 residents and the Western Province 2,471,239
The NISR also shows that the population increased by 2.4 million in 2012, which represents an average annual growth rate of 2.6% and recovered its long-term rate following the decline in the 1990s, which was marked by the the Genocide against the Tutsi.
Statistics indicate that in the years 1991 to 2002 annual growth fell to 1.2%.
Economists stress that population census is a necessary tool for the state’s economic proper planning and valuation of growth indicators and development of the citizens.
Emmanuel Ndayisaba, National Council of Persons with Disabilities (NCPD) Executive Director, in a statement, said the coming census will help specific sectors to properly plan for their organizations.
“It will particularly help us to plan for the people living with disabilities to make a better plan and budget for them,” he said.
The NISR Census Department Director, Venant Habarugira, told the press that the census of this year will be technology-based than the previous.
“During the last census, we used data sheets and it took a long time to process the data into the machines but now we will be using gadgets and computers,” he said.
Previous censuses were conducted for the first time in 1978, 1991, 2002 and 2012.
