In 174 years’ history of existence, Liberia has conducted a total of four National Population and Housing Censuses, namely 1962, 1974, 1984 and 2008.
All four censuses revealed a constantly growing population of 1.1 million, 1.5 million, 2.1 and 3.5 million inhabitants respectively.
LISGIS has undertaken the four previous censuses and has undergone a significant restructuring with its transformation to a semi-autonomous institution in 2004 and mandated with the responsibility for coordinating and conducting national censuses and surveys.
The importance of census in the developmental process of every country cannot be over-emphasized, especially considering that Liberia is on the pathway to a critical period of Presidential and Legislative Elections.
But sadly, since the last population Census in 2008, Liberia has never had any Census. The 2018 National Population and Housing Census was again delayed to be held in March 2022 due to COVID-19.
In line with Chapter Five, Article 39 of the 1986 Constitution, it states that the Legislature shall cause a census of the Republic to be undertaken every ten years.
In recent time ,the Plenary of the Liberian Senate mandated the Committee on Autonomous Commission and Agency to launch an inquiry into the delay by the Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS) to conduct the National Census and report within one week.
The plenary’s decision came as a result of a communication from Grand Kru County Senator Numene Bartekwa. In his communication, Bartekwa complained that there has been a delay by LISGIS to conduct the census which was due in March.
The March 22 Census was postponed to June 19, because the deferment is in two months and there might not be any Joint Resolution to effect the postponement.
The round of census, which should have been held in 2018, continued to be postponed in violation of the Constitution, which mandates in Article 39.
The causes were untimely and inadequate funding and now, the projected enumerated areas for the Census are far.
He argued that the time for a National Census cannot be decided without the knowledge of the Legislature.