Botswana's population is on the decline, this was said by the Statistician-General Dr. Burton Mguni when he announced the 2022 Population and Housing census preliminary results at the Grand Palm on Tuesday. Dr. Mguni said the estimated population of Botswana from the 2022 Population and Housing Census is 2,346,179 as compared to 2,024,904 enumerated in the 2011 Population and Housing Census.
“This represents a 15.9 percentage increase from 2011. The estimated population is slightly lower (4%) than the projected figure of 2,446,163” he said.
According to Dr. Mguni, the population growth rate between the two censuses stand at 1.4 percent, which is a decline from the 1.9 percent in the 2011 Population and Housing Census. On households, Dr. Mguni said that the average annual household size is estimated at 3.3 persons per household which is a 0.4 point drop from the 3.7 persons per household in 2011. The Statistician-General also pointed out that the preliminary results also show that Mogoditshane is the largest village in Botswana with a population of 88,098 followed by Maun with 85,293, and Molepolole with 74,719.
Dr. Mguni also said that the 2022 census also recorded many firsts. “It is the first Census that Statistics Botswana has ever undertaken as a body corporate; it is also the country’s first Census to utilise digital technology for both cartography (mapping) and count to enhance the quality of data and reduce the turnaround time towards releasing results|”, he said. “It is also the first to have been conducted earlier than August; the first to have been executed during a pandemic being the COVID-19 pandemic and also the first to have generated public interest and discourse through social media.’’