Census numbers out

In Zimbabwe 2002 was a year overshadowed by the presidential elections but another monumental undertaking was going on which we heard very little about. The 2002 census was also going on but was pushed to the backburners because of the election controversies.

After three years those census figures are out and off course the Herald has interesting spin on the figures. This from an op-ed in yesterday's edition of the paper.

"People immediately latched onto the "missing millions" and assumed 2 million, or even 3 million, Zimbabweans were living outside the country. It can now be seen that the bulk of the "missing millions" are missing because they were never born. There are a significant number of Zimbabweans abroad, but 300 000 must be the maximum estimate, not the 10-fold myth."

Yet this article in the very same paper says;

"In its national report of the 2002 census published on Friday, the Central Statistical Office found the population of Zimbabwe on census day was 11 631 657 people, very close to the initial figure of 11 634 663 published in December 2002.

The rate of natural increase in the year before census day in August 2002 was 1,3 percent.

This rate excludes the effects of migration, in or out of Zimbabwe, and is based purely on the difference between crude birth rates and death rates."

Clearly someone isn't reading their own propaganda. The census clearly avoided the effects of immigration. To go ahead and postulate that declining birthrates are the reason for the slowdown in population growth not emigration is a non sequitor.

I think the commentator would have better used his lies fabricating a reason for the delay in releasing the census figures.

I'm glad the Herald's putting out their contradictions in the open for all their hijacked readers to notice.

Zimbabwe,