According to the United Nations, “The population and housing census is
part of an integrated national statistical system, which may include other
censuses (for example, agriculture), surveys, registers and administrative
files. It provides, at regular intervals, the benchmark for population count at
national and local levels. For small geographical areas or sub-populations, it
may represent the only source of information for certain social, demographic
and economic characteristics. For many countries the census also provides a
solid framework to develop sampling frames.”
The 2020 PHC will help Ghana attain some targets of Sustainable
Development Goal 17 i.e.
- SDG 17.19.2: Proportion of countries that (a) have conducted at least one population and housing census in the last 10 years; and (b) have achieved 100 per cent birth registration and 80 per cent death registration.
- SDG 17.18: By 2020, enhance capacity-building support to developing countries, including for least developed countries and small island developing States, to increase significantly the availability of high-quality, timely and reliable data disaggregated by income, gender, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability, geographic location and other characteristics relevant in national contexts.
See our latest infographic for some more facts on the census and read the other posts in our census series here
