The 24th of September is Population and Housing Census Reference Night, where everyone, regardless of nationality, age, or social status, will be counted.

The census is the only time that everyone in the country is counted, and it should include newborn babies.

Inaccurate counts of infants and toddlers can have consequences that will impact their lives in terms of planning for development, but to an extent, everybody.

In the Census exercise, there is a period called Reference Night—in this case, the midnight of September 24.

People will be counted where they are found, and it is important to know and remember who slept in your household on the reference night.

Those who will not be in Namibia during the reference period will not be counted.

This is because a census always has a reference point, which is known as the reference night, to which the statistics collected are referred.

The Statistics Act makes it a crime to unreasonably refuse to provide information to census enumerators.

The Namibia Statistics Agency says information provided during the exercise is, by law, confidential.

It says arrangements have been made with the police to ensure that the census is safe.

Data captured through the census count will determine funding amounts for vital programmes.

The last time a census was conducted was in 2011.

Namibia conducted its first and second censuses in 1991 and 2001.

The 2023 Census will be the fourth.

Namibia has adhered to international requirements by conducting exercises every 10 years; however, the 2021 exercise was postponed twice due to financial constraints and other critical national priorities.

The 2011 Population and Housing Census counted slightly over 2.1 million inhabitants.

According to the Worldometer data, the current population stood at 2.6 million as of yesterday.