The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) has once again cancelled the 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC), this time citing funding constraints.
The country was due to enumerate its people in August.
Surprisingly, Finance minister Ipumbu Shiimi did not make a provision for the census in his budget last week.
“The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) hereby announce that the 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC) will not take place in August this year (2022) as earlier communicated as it is not provided for in the national budget of 2022/2023 due to financial constraints and other critical national priorities,” NSA Statistician-General and CEO Alex Shimuafeni said in an announcement on Tuesday.
The NSA says it will only be able to communicate the way forward when it engages with the National Planning Commission (NPC), through which the NSA is funded from.
In the 2022/2023 national budget, the National Planning Commission was allocated N$182.781 million, with the NSA putting the bill at N$1 billion for holding the census.
Namibia’s Population and Housing Census was originally scheduled to be held in August 2021, but was postponed to August 2022 due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
The Pilot Census, which serves as a test or dry run for the actual population and housing census was conducted last year.
A Population and Housing Census is conducted every 10 years.
