The National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) has allocated US$16 million for the upcoming national census slated for August, next year.

In an exclusive interview with The New Times, Prosper Mutijima, the Census Coordinator, said the entire census process, running from 2010 through 2014 was estimated to cost about US$26 million, but that the actual enumeration would cost US$16 million.

 "Preparatory activities for the census have been ongoing since August 2010, with the main exercise scheduled to take place next year in August,” he stated.

Mutijima said that pilot census report, along with census tools, will soon be presented to the Census Technical Committee and the National Census Commission, for approval.

The census is a set of operations, including the pre-enumeration operations, which involves preparatory activities, census mapping and pilot census.

The other operations are the enumeration (the census itself) and post-enumeration operations (post-census survey, data processing, data analysis, publication and dissemination of results).

All activities related to the census, across the country, which started in August 2010, will end in December 2014.

"We are currently preparing the recruitment, training, procurement and deployment plan for the census, with about 26,000 people set to participate in the exercise,” he said.

The NISR official pointed out that the institution had, so far, completed the mapping of all the villages in every province and the rural areas of Kigali City, adding that a pilot census was successfully conducted from 16 to 30 August 2011.

The first census in Rwanda was held in 1978, which put population at about 4.8 million. The second was conducted in 1991, with the population rising to 7.1 million. The population growth rate between 1978 and 1991 was 3.1 percent.

The third census was carried out in 2002, indicating that the population had grown further to 8.1 million, implying a fall in the growth rate by 1.2 percent.

Currently, the Rwandan population is estimated at 11 million, making it one of the most densely populated countries on the continent.

The government is counting on various population control measures to keep the growth rate under check.

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