ACCRA, Ghana (PANA) - A comprehensive census in Ghana entered its third day Tuesday to collect and prepare adequate data on the country's population and housing for more effective planning.

Census officers would, in the next two weeks, visit all houses in the country to collect details of persons and houses.

This is the 10th census since 1891 and the fourth after independence in 1957. The last census was held in 1984.

This year's exercise is significant as it is the first time the population and housing censuses are being done simultaneously.

The government declared Monday as a public holiday for people to remain at home to be counted.

The census office in Accra has stressed that it is not just important to be counted, but everybody is obliged to provide correct information.

Census officers will also visit hotels, guest houses, the airport, railway and bus stations and hospitals in the course of their work.

Other areas to be visited are rehabilitation centres, mental homes, prisons borstal homes and police cells, military camps, training institutions of the police and military, para-military training institutions, boarding homes, orphanages and homes of the destitute.

Ghana's population and growth rate have become guesswork for a very long time and the government complained that the trend made planning rather difficult.

The population is now put at 18 million but it could be far more or far less. The growth rate has been put at about 2.9 percent or 3.1 percent at different times.

The acting government statistician, Kweku Twum- Baah, has assured that adequate arrangements have been made to ensure that everybody is counted.

He told the Ghanaian News Agency that boats, trucks and helicopters would be made available for areas that are not easily accessible.