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Census 2022 Statistical Release

Preface:

A population and housing census is the foremost exercise in the ten-year cycle of the statistical programme of a country, presenting an opportunity to obtain data on the key demographic indicators such as population size and composition; households and their living circumstances, and geographical distribution across the country. It provides the population denominators for basic health and socio-economic indicators, and renews the basis for revising population estimates and projections for another ten years and beyond.

In a departure from previous practice, Census 2022 was the first digital census conducted by South Africa and used three modes of collection: Computer-assisted Personal Interview (CAPI); Computer-assisted Web Interview (CAWI); and Computer-assisted Telephonic Interview (CATI). The results of this massive census exercise and road map on how it was conducted provide invaluable indicators on progress made towards making South Africa a better society through evidence-based decision-making and planning.

Census 2022 was conducted under unprecedented challenging environment characterised by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as a changing fiscal environment, affecting the planning and rollout of the census exercise. The COVID-19 pandemic led to the postponement of the census that was initially scheduled for October 2021 to February 2022, and disrupted a number of other census activities, including the census pilot. The challenges posed by the pandemic were not unique to South Africa, causing disruption in the United Nations Census Programme of the 2020 round. Despite the disruptions in the census planning and preparations, and implementation, these challenges were overcome and Census 2022 was successfully executed, culminating in this momentous occasion of disseminating the much-anticipated census outcome in this report. A set of selected indicators ranging from population size, composition, and other indicators on persons’ characteristics to households’ living conditions are profiled. The report sets the tone for subsequent releases by providing disaggregated statistics at lower levels, which will be availed in a phased approach to all the stakeholders in planning and policy making, research and academia, the general public and business spheres.

Download Census 2022 Statistical Release