JUBA, APRIL 8, 2023 (Thejubamirror News. ) – The opposition National Democratic Movement led by Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin has reacted to the 2021 population estimates released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Thursday.
The estimates put the country’s population at 12,444,018 with Warrap state being the most populated state with 2,639,487 people, while Abyei was ranked the least with only 133,958 people.
In a statement signed by its spokesman Mahmoud Akot, the NDM said population census is a very important transitional task provided for in the revitalized peace agreement and asked the National Bureau of Statistic to explain how it carried it out.
“Conducting a population census is stipulated for in the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) as one of the pre-requisites for holding free, fair, and credible elections at the end of the transitional period. Census by itself must be transparent and all steps leading to the final product should be sanctioned by all the stakeholders in the country,” he said.
“We call upon the National Bureau of Statistics, if indeed it is the source of this document, to call all the stakeholders to explain to them the scientific basis of making the estimates, when was the process started and who took part in it, and whether the estimates included the millions of our refugees outside the country.
“Such information will determine our position on this population estimate,” he added.
The government had begun the population estimate survey in April 2021.
The $1.7 process was conducted between May and June 2021 by a group of 647 trained enumerators and supervisors.
The National Bureau of Statistic was helped in the process by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Speaking during launch of the results on Thursday in Juba, Isaiah Chol Aruai, chairperson of the National Bureau of Statistics, said the figures are based on satellite imagery and enumeration across 10 states and three administrative areas.
“We believe that these figures can only be used for policy formulation, planning, and service delivery. We have to invest in statistics. It is our role to generate data; without statistics, we will not be able to serve our people and plan for service delivery,” he said.
