The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) says the National Census Steering Committee will announce a new date for the commencement of the National Population and Housing Census, this year.

Mr Francis Nyarko-Larbi, the Head of the National Census Publicity, told the Ghana News Agency in Accra, on Monday that, the Service announced June 28, 2020, for the commencement of the Census, but the COVID-19 pandemic had invariably affected its programme of activities.

In view of that, the Census Steering Committee had started stakeholder consultations to agree on a new date.

Mr Nyarko-Larbi said though the President had eased restrictions on public gathering, the mode of conducting Census involved going from house to house, and therefore the Service was waiting for an expert’s advice before taking any decision.

"Census is not like other registration exercises such as registration of voters or Ghana Card, where registration officials sit at a particular place and prospective applicants come to them.

"With regard to Census, enumerators move from house to house and so looking at the way the coronavirus has generated fear among the populace, not everyone is willing to accept enumerators into their home,"Mr Nyarko-Larbi explained.

The census is to provide a reliable database for policy reviews and ensure systematic implementation of government policies and interventions and also serve as a reference point for donor partners seeking to partner government in its development drive.

Ghana conducts Population and Housing Census every 10 years to guide policy decision-making.

The last time Ghana conducted a national census was in 2010, which recorded a population of 24.2 million.

The result implied that the country’s population increased by 30.4 per cent over the 2000 population figure of 18.9 million. The first census conducted in the then Gold Coast was in 1891.