Census shows impact of migration
Stabroek News
May 22, 2004
The census found a population increase of almost 26,000 people from 1991 to late 2002, while there were an estimated 165,000 net births in that period.
This supports conclusions that migration has been the key setback to the population's growth rate.
This is according to Statistics Bureau Chief Lennox Benjamin, who says the population of 749,190 was lower than the projections made by the Bureau since the 1991 census.
Though he said it was not the only factor responsible for the marginal growth, he did point out that net birth figures from the General Registrar's Office might support conclusions about a significant net outflow of people, though he said it was not the only factor.
More detailed findings from the census are to be released before the end of the year.
Benjamin yesterday officially presented the preliminary report of The 2002 National Population and Housing Census yesterday, almost three months since the report was completed. The report was first published by Stabroek News last Friday. Its findings do not include supporting data, like the birth, death and migration rates, which are factors that also influenced the total population.
The report found that Guyana's population as of late 2002 reflected an increase of 3.53% since the last census. It also showed that there was a sharp fall in Region Six's population by over 18,600.
Benjamin told reporters yesterday at NCN Channel 11 studios that the findings for the region correlate with the data, which show that there are a high number of vacant buildings in the district.
He said both internal and external migration may be responsible for the decline in the region, which was the only of the ten that experienced negative growth.
Region Four still accounts for 42% of the population, though there has been a decline in the population of Georgetown. This has been attributed to internal population shifts within the region where the suburbs outside the city have grown. The report has also found that the number of households has increased with the decline of the extended family concept, which has also resulted in the decline in the size of households. Meanwhile, the population sex ratio is almost equal, with women accounting for 50.7% of the total population.
More detailed findings are expected to be released by the Bureau before the end of the year, which is in tune with the timeframe of other countries in the region, according to Caricom's regional co-ordinator for censuses Osmond Gordon.
Gordon said all member states as well as the Turks and Caicos, the British Virgin Islands, Anguilla and Bermu-da have completed their field work, though he noted that a fire which destroyed some of the records in Suriname had forced the country to revisit enumeration.
He added that Caricom, in collaboration with CIDA, would assist each member state to produce an analytical national census report with special regional monographs.
John Mensah, a consultant from Ghana who is working with the Bureau, said the processing of the data is 70% completed and should be done before the end of the year.
He said while scanning the information does take time, verifying and editing the data is also time-consuming.
One of the demographics which will have to be thoroughly verified is the household income levels, which proved to be a sensitive issue for some. Benjamin pointed out that enumeration was set against the crime wave that exploded in 2002 and this resulted in the apprehensiveness and reluctance of home owners to reveal much.