Population Estimation Approaches in the Context of Population and Housing Censuses in Africa

Tapiwa Jhamba, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

In many developing countries, population and housing censuses are the main source of population data. However, some countries have not conducted a census in a long time, whilst in others, parts of the country are not enumerated, for example, due to insecurity. Also, census data can quickly become outdated due to high rates of migration and urban growth thereby calling for estimates. The evolution of new approaches for generating population estimates at small area level has provided opportunity to fill population data gaps in many contexts. This paper elaborates how satellite imagery and statistical modelling approaches have been used to estimate population distributions where a census is not possible. The paper also shows how population estimates are used to inform census planning, and where a census has been conducted, to disaggregate population data to small geographic areas for programme targeting and service delivery purposes.