Two weeks ago, my colleague Tuli and I travelled to the UN Statistical Commission for Africa to hear first-hand about the challenges facing national statistical offices, the organisations responsible for each country’s census, as they prepare for the next round of censuses in 2030. A census is how a country counts its people, and our aim was to explore how WorldPop’s modelled population data, which combines maths and satellite imagery to estimate where people live, can help fill gaps and make the process more efficient. Three themes came through strongly: the growing role of artificial intelligence (the African Development Bank estimates it could add over $1 trillion to Africa’s economy in the coming years, and there is a real push to build the skills to make the most of it), the need for long-term planning as offices modernise, and the increasing importance of combining population figures with maps. We hosted two side events on how to modernise the census, looking at the obstacles countries face and the different ways support can be organised. Two messages stood out: help needs to arrive at the right moment, and partnerships with African universities are vital for building a steady pipeline of skilled people into national statistical offices. In our meetings with several countries, we also heard real appetite for bringing modelled data into national systems, both to close gaps in census data and to get better value for money. Thank you to everyone who joined the conversations, and we look forward to what comes next. 
statistics africa
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