Sudan to hold population census in 2018
July 15, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese government on Friday said it would conduct the sixth population census in April, 2018.
The director general of Sudan’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Yassin Abdin, said the exercise would cost $50 million, pointing that 40,000 census officials and enumerators would be mobilised to carry out the exercise across the country.
Abdin, who made the announcement on Friday, urged civil society organisations, government officials and citizens to effectively participate in the process in order to achieve more accurate and comprehensive results.
According to Abdin, the sixth population census would include Sudanese and non-Sudanese people residing in the country besides all demographic groups regardless of gender, age, tribe, ethnicity or political and social status.
“The population census would be based upon the bases of equal rights and duties and it will cover all people residing in Sudan without distinction,” he said .
He added the population would also include Sudanese people who are temporarily absent from the country provided they have no other families abroad, saying that expatriates could also be covered showing reasons for their migration and countries where they reside.
Last year, President Omer al-Bashir issued a decision providing to conduct the sixth population census in April 2018.
According to the decision, the process will be supervised by the Higher Census Council headed by the first vice-president who will be seconded by the cabinet minister and the director general of the CBS.
In line with the presidential decision, regional census committees would be formed at the state-level. They will be headed by the governors while CBS regional directors are appointed as rapporteurs.
The fifth population census was held in April 2008. Its results showed the population at 39.15 million, with 21% (8.26 million) living in South Sudan before its independence.
The first census in Sudan was conducted in 1955 and followed by three others in 1965, 1983 and 1993.
Sudan’s current population is estimated at 34 million people.