Mpumalanga premier receives census report of 2022
The census report is an important data source used for planning, and the findings are key in tracking service delivery in Mpumalanga. The 2022 census results were recently handed over to the province’s first citizen.
The Statistician-General of South Africa, Risenga Maluleke, handed the Census 2022’s provincial results over to Premier Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane at the EXCO Boardroom in the Makhonjwa Building on November 15.
The Office of the Premier said the census report is an important data source used for planning, and is essential for the state to take evidence-based decisions. It provides data on the demographic, economic and social make-up of the country. The findings are key in tracking service delivery programmes.
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Stats SA conducted the first ever digital population and housing census last year, since the advent of democracy, using hand-held devices. Information was collected via digital questionnaires, and the public completed the survey via the internet. Stats SA handed the national results of the Census 2022 over to President Cyril Ramaphosa in October.
Maluleke said, “The census is necessary because we need to deal with the issue of equity and distribution of government services, allocating government funds and measuring the performance of our programmes. We come from the Census 1996 in democracy, and indeed, the 1996, 2001 and 2011 censuses were all paper-based.”
Mpumalanga is the sixth largest province with 5.1 million people. It has maintained this sixth position since 1996.
Maluleka said Mpumalanga’s population was 5 143 324 as of February 2, 2022.
“All districts in the province have shown growth. The province grew by 1.1 million people between 2011 and 2022. The population increased by 27.3% from 2011 to 2022.
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“At 95.3% (4.9 million), the black African population group constitutes the largest proportion of province’s population, followed by white people with 3.6% (185 731), then coloured with 0.6% (32 100) and Indian/Asian with 0.5% (25 882). The coloured and Indian/Asian communities are relatively small in this province,” he explained.
Mtshweni-Tsipane said the census is a vital tool. “We are very delighted, because you have depicted almost all the areas of service delivery. As we move forward, we look at how best can we check up so that we do not see an extreme deterioration in terms of service delivery to our people, but instead taking it to greater heights,” she said.
