Experts Question Validity of South Africa's Latest Census

Three experts have expressed concern about the extent of the undercount of South Africa's just-released Census 2022. The undercount refers to the proportion of the population who were missed during counting, Daily Maverick reports.

For Census 2022, that figure is 31%.

The experts, who did not wish to be named, stressed that a fuller picture of what happened would be available only once the relevant census data has been worked through. But the undercount figure of 31% is considered a significant cause for alarm.

President Cyril Rampaphosa received the results and said: "Despite the present challenges of load shedding, which we are urgently addressing, we should be encouraged by the almost universal access to electricity supply ... Census 2022 has told us where we are making progress, but it has also laid bare the challenges that remain."

This was the fourth census conducted since 1994. Census 2022 was conducted by Statistics South Africa and the findings found the government's provision of most basic services to the population has largely increased since 2011 when the last census was held.

It also showed that the population grew by more than 10 million in 12 years, and that IsiZulu remains the most popular language in the country, followed by isiXhosa at 16.3% and Afrikaans at 10.6%.