2019 Census Exercise: Who it Targets and What Questions to Expect

By Virginia Mwangi / Published August 5, 2019 | 6:42 am

The 24^th of this month, August 2019, will be a date marking history in Kenya as Census will be happening with a uniqueness of the integration of technology which will be a first in the exercise in the Country.

Those that will not have been counted on 24^th of August will be revisited on the 31^st of August to ensure full coverage of the Country’s population.

The Census exercise will cover local Kenyans, immigrants and literally any human being that will be in the Country on the date.

The Census exercise which is operating on a budget of 18.5 billion shillings will engage services of enumerators who will be expected to visit homes and hotels in a bid to ensure coverage of the Country’s population.

Every household in the country will be expected to declare if they have any close relatives living in the diaspora as the exercise will not include them, Census will only cover the number of Kenyans who will have slept in Kenya the night of 24^th and 31st August 2019.

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) officers will administer questionnaires to patients in hospitals, street families and travelers.

Below is a list of Areas Census Will Cover

Prisons- Prisoners will be counted in their cells
Police Stations- Suspects will be counted in their respective holding police cells
Schools-Students will be counted in their respective boarding institutions
Hospitals- Questionnaire forms will be offered to patients in hospitals to ensure their coverage
Hotels- visitors in hotels will also be questioned for inclusion whether local or otherwise
Travelers- All traveling but will be within the Country’s borders will be counted
Street Families- All the street families within Kenya’s borders are expected to participate
Homes- all family members will be counted and expected to declare if they have people living in the diaspora.

All Kenyans within the borders of Kenya on the night of 24^th and 31^st August 2019 will be expected to participate and are urged to comply with the KNBS officials to ensure the success of the process.

Questions to Expect

Questions that Kenyans will be expected to answer during the Census process will regard age, sex, ethnicity, nationality, religion, marital status, and County of birth.

The migration will be captured in the questionnaires as Kenyans will be expected to answer on their migration past and reasons.

Level of literacy will be covered as Kenyans will be asked to declare their highest level of education and state the current schools they are attending.

Education specialty relevance will be covered as the government seeks to know whether individuals are working in line with the courses they studied.

The number of unemployed Kenyans which has been previously a bone of contention will also be included in the census data captioning as Kenyans will need to state whether they are employed or non-employed.

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Girls as young as 12 years of age will be asked whether they are mothers to assess the fertility rate.

Other questions will include farming and the particulars, fishing, livestock (whether indigenous or not), housing ownership, amenities, their conditions and number of people dwelling in a house.

Mode of waste disposal, source of drinking water and mode of cooking shall also be captured.

All the people in the country are called upon to comply with the KNBS officers to ensure the success of the exercise.