Ethiopia postpones population census, declares Parliament

Parliament of Ethiopia and the House of Federation have decided to postpone the national population census of Ethiopia by a period of more than one year.

The Ethiopian parliament has extended the national population census by over a year after debating on the plan. Of the total 547 members of parliament, 30 have opposed the proposal to extend the census while 3 have abstained.

A few members of the Ethiopian parliament suggested that the East African country must conduct the census after six months claiming that peace and stability in the country is improving. While others suggested that it has to be extended for more than one-year period, as reported by Newbusinessethiopia.com.

The decision to postpone population census came following the instability and displacement in some parts of Ethiopia including politicization of the census which is extension of the ethnic politics Ethiopia has been pursuing. It is recalled that before the joint meeting the Ethiopian Parliament has passed a resolution to postpone the census.

The Central Statistics Agency of Ethiopia finalized preparations to undertake the census a few months ago. However, due to the instabilities and internal displacements, the country was forced to abandon undertaking the census. Since the current regime came to power in May 1991, Ethiopia has undertaken national population census two times every ten year since 1994 and 2007. Estimates show that the total population of Ethiopia at the moment is around 100 million, the above-mentioned source noted.

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