By Hassan Osman Kargbo
President Julius Maada Bio says December 2025 is the date for the next Population and Housing Census in Sierra Leone.
President made this called on Monday 9 September 2024 while addressing the nation on the census and other gains government under his leadership has made over the years.
President Bio announced that the nation will be conducting a nationwide population and housing census in December 2025. “I am pleased to announce that my government will conduct a nationwide Population and Housing Census in December 2025,” he stated.
He said the exercise would be conducted from 2nd to 15th December and noted that the night of December 1st, 2025 as Census Night.
The last census in Sierra Leone was conducted in December 2021, and it was the first ever Mid-Term Population and Housing Census conducted in the country.
The outcome was also rejected by the opposition, particularly the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC), which move set the stage for the dispute that characterized the 2023 general elections and the ensuing political impasse.
President Bio urged all their partners and Sierra Leonean to support the forthcoming decennial census in the country.
“I urge all our partners and inhabitants of Sierra Leone to support the forthcoming decennial census,” he noted.
The 2021 mid-term population and housing census was meant to review the country’s development status since the previous census in 2015, which was itself disputed by Bio’s Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), which was at the time in the opposition.
His government said the mid-term census was meant to rectify wrongs associated with the 2015 census and update the base maps and enumeration areas.
During his address to the nation on Monday, President Bio disclosed that his administration will build on the success of the 2021 Mid-Term census and leverage Computer-Assisted Personal Interviews (CAPI) for the 2025 census.
In line with its mandate, Statistics Sierra Leone will have the general supervision and management in the conduct of the census, he said.
“The data from this decennial Census in 2025 will guide the implementation of various development programmes, primarily the 2024–2030 Medium Term National Development Plan and our efforts to achieve the global Sustainable Development Goals. This Census will provide reliable baseline data to assess the impact of critical development interventions on both these guiding instruments with a contemporary deadline of 2030,” Bio said.
This will be the sixth decennial census since Sierra Leone gained independence, starting with 1963, 1974, 1985, 2004, and 2015.
