Census 2022. Photo: Stats SA
South Africa’s population and housing census goes digital in 2022. Residents must register before the end of January for the online survey.
Census 2022. Photo: Stats SA
South Africa’s fourth population and housing census since 1994 is expected to start from 3 February 2022. Census 2022 will be the first digital iteration and residents will have the option of completing the questionnaire remotely – those who do not sign up will have a face-to-face interview.
Stats SA was meant to conduct the census in 2021 but it was pushed back by the COVID-19 pandemic. The government hopes to receive responses from 17 million households.
The multi-modal approach adopted by Stats SA for Census 2022 will see it use three data collection methods, including Computer Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI), Computer Assisted Web Interview (CAWI) and Computer Assisted Telephonic Interview (CATI).
The web and telephonic interviews are conducted remotely. If respondents opt for the web option they must register before the end of January and then complete the questionnaire on Census Night – 2 February 2022. With the telephonic option, a Stats SA official will talk respondents through the questionnaire.
The personal interview is conducted face-to-face. Census field workers will visit households and also collect data from populations in transit, the homeless and special dwelling institutions, including hotels, bed and breakfasts, guest houses, hospitals, police and military barracks, prisons, boarding schools, nursing homes and more.
To register for the online survey follow these steps: