Guyana will conduct a population census this year

Guyana will go ahead with conducting its statutory population census this year, the country’s Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh assured on Thursday.

Singh, while considering budgetary allocation in the 2022 budget for the Finance Ministry, said funding has been made available for the Bureau of Statistics to conduct the 2022 census.

The last time Guyana conducted a population census was in 2012. A census is expected every decade.

Dr. Singh did not confirm the total amount set aside in the budget for the activity. He said, however, that the preparatory work started last year with the fieldwork to be conducted this year and further consolidation of data and analysis to continue next year.

“Preparatory work starts long before the census year so the Bureau of Statistics started preparatory work and developed the draft data collection tools, initiated the questionnaires and field manuals,” Dr. Singh said in response to questions posed by Shadow Finance Minister Juretha Fernandes.

He explained that monies were in the 2021 budget, now in the 2022 budget and will also be in the 2023 budget for the census.

But the Finance Minister would not reveal the sums, only saying that should it not be enough then the government will return to the National Assembly for supplementary funding.

“It is a multiyear activity… rest assured it will be done this year… and should we need additional funds we will return to the House,” he added.

“We expect an escalation of activity in 2022 where fieldwork will be executed and there will be the actual visiting of the households by enumerators … for this, we have provided an indicative amount that the government believes will suffice for the activity this year.”

The 2012 report was not published until 2016.

Outside of the 10-year population census, there are other studies and surveys done on an annual basis.