A specially-convened commission has started preparing for a national census, scheduled for July, the director of the National Population Office, Maurece Buchaju, said on Tuesday. The cost of the exercise, estimated at US $8 million, would be met by the European Union (EU) and the UN Population Fund, the Rwanda News Agency reported. The last Rwandan census in 1991 put the population at 7.4 million and the growth rate at 3.1 percent. The UNDP’s 1999 Human Development Report estimated the Rwandan population at over six million in 1997- taking into account the genocidal slaughter of 1994 and the reduced growth rate that resulted - but has projected that it will reach 10.5 million by 2015, giving rise to considerable development challenges.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
Share this article