Hey there, Guess what? There’s something super cool happening called the Census, where the government wants to know all about the people living in our country.

But here’s the nice part: they’re giving us a chance to do it ourselves! Yep, you heard it right! We can “self-enumerate.” In other words fill out the Census form on our own instead of having government people come to our houses.

There’s a catch! Before we can do it ourselves, we have to update our details on something called the National Population Register (NPR) online. This NPR thing was created in 2010 and updated in 2015. It already has information about a whopping 119 crore people!

Important Details

• The Census was supposed to happen in 2021, but it got postponed indefinitely. Nobody knows when it will actually take place, but one thing is for sure, it’s going to be the first digital Census ever! Pretty cool, huh? The government hasn’t announced the dates yet, but we know it won’t happen until at least September.
• The Census is a big process with two phases. First, there’s something called the Houselisting Operations (HLO) and Housing Census. That’s when they update the NPR at the same time. The second phase is the main one. Here they gather information about the people living in our country—stuff like social and economic details.
• Here’s something interesting: for this self-enumeration thing, we have to provide our Aadhaar or mobile number. That’s a must! The government wants to make sure it’s really us filling out the form. They’re even creating a special website for us to do it. But right now, it’s only available in English.
• This special website will let us register our mobile numbers in the NPR database and fill out the details during the Houselisting Operations. We can update our family information online without the help of those government people. They say it’s to protect our privacy and save money too.
• On the website, we’ll get secure access to our family information using a special password sent to our registered mobile number. We can change details about our family members and even add new ones. So, if someone has moved out or passed away, we can mark them as “moved-out or died.” Sounds pretty handy, right?
• Oh, did we tell you that they collected some trial data in 2019? They asked about 14 different things like passport number, occupation, and even if someone is divorced or widowed. But don’t worry, the final form is not out yet.
• Now, here’s something interesting: the government wants to create a comprehensive identity database of all the people living in our country. That’s why it’s mandatory for everyone to register in the NPR. But don’t worry, all the individual data will be kept confidential. They only release combined data without any personal information.
• So, get ready for the Census adventure! We might have to wait a bit longer, but when it’s time, we’ll have the power to fill out the form ourselves. How awesome is that?

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Watch a video

On YouTube, Statistics South Africa provides a simple explanation of what a census is all about.