Mauritania to carry out fifth national census before end of 2023

Mauritania will carry out a head count of its population, the fifth in its history, before the end of year, to gather data needed to prepare, implement, monitor, and evaluate the various development policies, the country’s National Agency for Statistics and Demographic and Economic Analysis has announced.

Mohamed Mokhtar Ould Sidi, head of the agency, told the national committee for the census, the head count is carried out as part of the implementation of United Nations recommendations that member states organize a general population and housing census every ten years.

Ould Sidi said the census will provide the data needed to prepare, implement, monitor, and evaluate the various development policies. The country currently has a population of 4.7 million people according to 2022 data by the World Bank. The latest census took place in 2013.