The voting blocs and issue-based political campaigns are some of the issues that could emerge as Tanzania prepares to conduct a massive census in the country in a decade.
And while real political campaigns are three years away, most political aspirants may look at the contents of the upcoming census as a launchpad. This is because the registration of voters for Tanzania’s 2025 General Election will be based on data collected from this year’s population and housing census to be conducted nationwide on Tuesday, August 23, which is also a designated public holiday.
According to government officials, data on key factors such as age eligibility, citizenship status and specific area residency will be filed for future reference when verifying voters for the next poll in three years’ time.
Tanzania’s first substantive population and housing census in 10 years will seek to verify various unofficial figures. Those figures have variously put the country’s current population at between 55 and 65 million. In 2012, Tanzania reported 44.9 million people.
The upcoming census will be held against the backdrop of UN predictions that have placed Tanzania’s population to be among the world’s eight fastest-growing countries over the next three decades.
The census budget has been set at Tsh328 billion ($141 million).
