The 2024 Uganda Census has officially kicked off today with enumerators already in the field to collect the required data. However, the National Census Commissioner (NCC) Dr. Chris Ndatira Mukiza has asked the public not to offer food to the enumerators who visit their households as it will cause delays.
Mukiza stated that the Pilot Census conducted in May last year showed that some households are so small that enumerating them could hardly take 15 minutes, but in households with around six members, the enumeration could take an average of forty-five minutes if the enumerator’s concentration is not disrupted.
The enumeration exercise will involve the use of five types of questionnaires. The main one will be for the Household, but there will also be others for Hotel Residents, Institutions, and Floating Populations such as street children. Additionally, there will be a Community Questionnaire to be administered by parish supervisors. This questionnaire aims to collect information about how the community accesses services.
According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), slum dwellers, night shift workers, and the homeless will be among the first to be counted. Over 120,000 UBOS staff will move door-to-door to capture data of Ugandans.