Cameroon can’t count its citizens!.

The CPDM party-led government is not indifferent to the crucial need of accurate demographic data, including that of agriculture, which employs some 70 percent of the active population and a major engine of economic development.

It is in recognition of the paramount role of precise population count that the Prime Minister, Head of Government, Dr Chief Joseph Dion Ngute, on the instructions of the Head of State, Paul Biya, ordered the 4th General Population and Housing Census, RGPH-4, and the Agriculture and Livestock Census, RGAE; to start on April 24, 2026, and to end on May 29, 2026.

Unable to complete the counting exercise, which in some countries with an identical population, would take two weeks, the deadline was extended to July 31, 2026 and again to September 16, 2026. 

As the exercise ended Tuesday, September 15, 2026, it emerged, scandalously, that only 85 percent of Cameroonians had been counted. What went wrong with all the modern gadgets at the disposal of the enumerators? Was it the strike they engaged after their remunerations were not paid?

Why were they not paid when due, especially given the importance of the assignment and risks many of them encountered on the field?

At the disposal of the enumerators were tablet-based data collection gadgets, including use of satellite imagery, and aerial surveillance, particularly for hard-to-reach areas, to ensure the data was representative and credible to ensure collection within the shortest possible time.

As we reported yesterday, a field mission was carried out by the Coordinator of the General Population and Housing Census, Bernadette Mbarga, and the Coordinator of the General Census of Agriculture and Livestock, André Mbalranodji, from September 10 to 14, 2026, to evaluate progress.

They were in Abang Minko'o, Kye-Ossi, and Ambam in the Ntem Valley Division of the South Region as last minute efforts helped to increase the percentage of the head count.

The East Region is said to have recorded the highest number of persons counted, followed by the Far North Region. Two weeks back, officials, according to reports, the count was around 71.7% of coverage nationally.

In densely populated areas like Wouri in the Littoral Region and Mfoundi in the Centre Region, there were slide increases in percentage within the last days. Both areas are said to be within the neighbourhood of about 60% coverage, compared to about 40.4% and 35.5% they had in the early weeks back.

With the official end of the counting exercise, officials say the post-census survey phase will begin to handle key variables like establishing sex and age, addressing omissions, missing persons, refusals, and other shortcomings recorded throughout the process.

The process, as reported, will take the next three months. Meantime, the pilot hybrid control is also planned in conflict-hit areas like the North West and the South West Regions, using questionnaires given to the population before the cleaning up of the data in the final phase so as to obtain the final population of the country, which, given the discrepancies recorded, would remain a matter of gesticulation.

Looking back, the third census ended in November 2005 and results were not released until five anxious years later in 2010, putting the population at 17,5. Official international databases like Macrotrend had to be relied unpin to estimate the country’s population!

Today, the country’s population is determined by educated guesses or extrapolations, rather than hard facts. The current population is estimated at 30 million people, according to official projections and demographic updates from the National Institute of Statistics and international tracking UNFPA.

The International Monetary Fund, IMF, estimate it at 30.65 million, while its other side of the same coin, the World Bank, details it at 29,123,744 people. 

On the other hand, the World Population Review anchors its own count at 30,640,817 people. Wikipedia guess is “nearly 31 million people.”

The Guardian Post hopes the tabulation this time will not be like that of 2015, with the digital technologies used so as to end the cacophony in the country’s population. 

It does not augur well for planning economic development and equity in distribution of investment projects, political appointments and location of administrative offices. It is a scandal to say the least.

At The Guardian Post, we say it without fear of being contradicted, that at this level, Yaounde has no choice but to bury its head in shame. Establishing accurate, reliable and robust population data isn’t a luxury; it is equally not partisan politics. It’s essential for a functioning society. 

When people are not counted, as researchers have pointed out, “they risk disappearing from public policy too. Making everyone counted starts with counting everyone.” 

Government has the resources and personnel to do that and it should do so with speed and accuracy. Anything short of that is nothing but a scandal.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3912 of Thursday September 17, 2026