Government sets aside $8 million for 2002 census

The government of Rwanda has set aside US $8 million in preparation for the country’s 2002 general census, Rwandan News agency (RNA) quoted the national coordinator of general census for population and housing in the ministry of finance Damien Mugabo as saying. He said that the European Union (EU) had provided 80 percent of the total amount. Rwanda contributed 10 percent while the UK and the Netherlands provided another 10 percent. “The UN Fund for Population and Housing Activity (UNFPA) will provide experts in the field of statistics and demography,” he said. Meanwhile, Rwanda has began a two-week pilot census that is aimed at testing the peoples’ understanding, the questionnaire, personnel, logistics and the calendar. “Seventeen districts were sampled out of 106, one from each province with three from Kigali,” he said. This is the third time Rwanda is undertaking a general census of which the first one took place in 1978 and the second in 1991. “In 1978, the population was 4.7 million and in 1991, the population was 7.15 million representing a 3 percent population growth,” he added. Meanwhile, minister of local government and social affairs, Desire Nyandwi, last week called upon all residents in the 17 districts which were selected for the pilot census to be cooperative and sincere when answering the questionaire with the officials from the commission of the national population census.