Sierra Leone urges residents to stay put for census
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Sierraloaded
Statistics Sierra Leone is asking residents to remain in their community of residence on census night, scheduled for 1 December 2026, rather than returning to their ancestral village solely to be counted. Its director of communications, Samuel Ansumana, explained that the count would be based on where each person spent that night, to limit distortions in demographic data and better distribute public services.
Statistics Sierra Leone, the national statistics agency, is asking residents to remain in their usual communities during the night of the 1 December 2026 census. It warns that travelling to ancestral villages solely to be counted could distort population figures, according to a message presented on Tuesday 20 October at a forum in Waterloo.
The census will use the so-called “de facto” method: each person will be counted where they are physically located during census night, explained Samuel Ansumana, the agency’s director of communications. Travel could inflate the figures for some areas and lead to an underestimate of the communities where residents usually live. The data is intended to help determine needs for schools, health facilities and access to water.
The choice of 1 December follows technical assessments conducted with international partners, including the United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the US Census Bureau. The government has invested more than $12 million in digital tablets. Data collection will also rely on Starlink satellite internet in areas without mobile coverage and on geofencing to limit location errors.
The instruction is part of preparations for the 2026 digital census, the countdown to which was launched on 14 October. Sierra Leone had also received 25,000 tablets intended for the operation, according to an announcement published on 7 October.
Summary produced with the help of artificial intelligence tools, under AFREEQUE’s editorial responsibility.
