The final results of the 2010 Population and Housing Census are expected to be released on Monday, April 30, 2012, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has indicated. Originally, the results were scheduled to be released on March 31, 2012 but some initial field challenges which impacted negatively on the data collection process have necessitated the rescheduling of the date for the release of the results. The acting Government Statistician, Dr Philomena Nyarko, who made this known to the DAILY GRAPHIC in Accra Tuesday, dismissed allegations that the release of the census results was being delayed to favour certain political interests. “I’m not worried at all because technically I know there is nothing we can do with where we are now,” she said. Some interest groups, including the Danquah Institute (DI), have mounted pressure on the GSS to release the census results early. In a statement issued a couple of days ago, the DI asked the government to allow the results of the census to be released and in time for the 2012 new voter’s registration exercise. “The delay is unusual and unprecedented. Moreover, no credible explanation has so far been offered by the government for this undue delay. In 2000, the final census results of that year were declared in that same year, how much more today, with all the advances in ICT over the last decade,” it said. Responding to some of the concerns expressed by the DI, Dr Nyarko wondered how anyone, including herself, could manipulate figures when the census data were not ready yet. “I can’t even have access to it because the form in which it is, I can’t use it,” she maintained, adding that the GSS was an independent institution that did not allow interference from external quarters. Dr Nyarko disagreed with suggestions that the release of the census results had delayed unduly, explaining that generally it took two years (24 months) to announce census results. Given the fact that the 2010 Population and Housing Census was held in September 2010, releasing the results even in April 2012 would be within a period of one-and-a-half years (18 months), which is far below the general two-year time frame, she submitted. “We have done extremely well. So I don’t understand why people are pressurising us,” she said. “The process is such that after the census, the post-enumeration stage entails grooming and preparation of questionnaires for scanning, verification of data, generation of tables and conversion into a format that could be used for data analysis,” she added. When the DAILY GRAPHIC visited the Head Office of the GSS, census officials were working around the clock to deliver on time. They work 24 hours in three shifts from Monday to Sunday, while many of the offices have been converted into data processing rooms to speed up work. “So it’s not as if we have finished with the data processing and don’t want to release the results,” Dr Nyarko pointed out. Asked how credible the results would be, given the challenges that had characterised the census, the acting Government Statistician said, “I can assure you that we have credible data based on quality assurance done after the field work, which indicated 95 per cent well-done job.” Provisional results of the 2010 Population and Housing Census which were released on February 3, 2011 put Ghana's population at 24.2 million. The current national population represents a 28.1 per cent increase over the 2000 population figure of 18.9 million, meaning that the country’s population has been growing at an annual rate of 2.4 per cent since 2000. According to the figures, there are more females than males, with the population of males standing at 11,801,661, while that of females is pegged at 12,421,770, representing 48.7 and 51.3 per cent, respectively, of the total population. With respect to the regional distribution, the Ashanti Region has the highest population of 4,725,046, up from the 2000 population figure of 3,612,950, followed by the Greater Accra Region, with a population of 3,909,764, up from the 2000 population figure of 2,905,726, while the Upper West Region has the lowest population of 677,763, up from the 2000 population of 576,583.