Togo: A census like no other !

11 November 2022

This title is very evocative on several points, especially with regard to the particularity of this 5th General Census of Population and Housing. If we recognize by definition that "the General Census of Population and Housing (RGPH) is the largest operation to collect data on populations and housing, which is carried out every 10 years. The operation makes it possible to identify all individuals regardless of their nationality, age or sex and their accommodation. Since its accession to independence, Togo has carried out four general population censuses : in 1960, 1970, 1981 and the last in 2010", it should be noted that it has an important difference with other censuses.

And what's the difference ? According to the information, it will be necessary to understand that it would be a mistake to "confuse the General Population and Housing Census (RGPH) with the other censuses that we have already heard of. It is not to be confused with : the electoral census which only concerns Togolese aged 18 and over, the tax census which is exclusively managed by the Togolese Revenue Office (OTR) whose mission is not to be confused with that of the National Institute of Statistics and Economic and Demographic Studies (INSEED)".

And compared to previous general censuses, this 5th of its kind is still special. According to the INSEED officials who coordinate this operation, "the particularity of this 5th RGPH with the previous ones is to be noted at the level of the tool used for data collection. Unlike the other previous ones where the paper questionnaire was used, for this 5th, tablets equipped with GPS are used. And the 15,000 agents are each equipped with a tablet for collecting data which is then transmitted directly to a server" and "the advantage of using tablets is that it allows information to be collected quickly and to limit the maximum risk of error with the configuration of tablets that do not accept the recording of errors and aberrations".

For the success of this counting operation, the populations are invited to welcome and respond with sincerity to all the questions of the "enumerators identifiable by their badges and vests who will go from house to house to identify the entire population, including the communities foreigners living in Togo". This, it is said, "because everyone counts".

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