Census Steering Committee explores collaboration with China on 2020 Census

The 2020 Census Steering Committee have indicated that Ghana would be conducting the next decennial Population and Housing Census from the 15th of March 2020.

The delegation led by the Government Statistician, Prof. Samuel Kobina Annim revealed this when they visited the Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, H.E. Mr. Shi Ting Wang, to express the Ghana Statistical Service’s appreciation to the government and people of China for granting full scholarship to four senior officers to undertake a-three-week seminar on IT-based Statistics Management for Developing Countries.

Prof. Annim used the occasion to brief the ambassador on the steps the Service was taking to conduct the next Population and Housing Census in March 2020 and called for the support of the Chinese government in acquiring 70,000 tablets as Ghana is deploying technology to ensure timely release of census data to guide policy planning and development.

In his response, H.E. Shi Ting Wang expressed the desire of the embassy to know the number of Chinese in Ghana as that information is not readily and accurately available to them. He remarked that Chinese are not required to report to the embassy when in another country hence if the census would provide them with that data that would be of immense help to the embassy.

The Ambassador revealed that the cooperation between Ghana and China was strong and this is reflected in the number of Ghanaians studying the Chinese Language as against the USA for example. He revealed that there were 6,500 Ghanaian students in China as against 3,500 in USA for the 2019 academic year; and added that 310 of the students in China were on full Chinese scholarship. On the request for tablets, the Ambassador, indicated that the request is awaiting response from the Chinese government in Beijing.

Prof. Annim in a follow-up, expressed his appreciation for the consideration but intimated the tight deadline for the acquisition of tablets for the 2020 PHC.

The Government Statistician was accompanied by Mrs. Araba Forson, Deputy Government Statistician and Kwadwo Asante-Mensah, Director of Administration.