While the World celebrates the World Population Day (WPD) every July 11, this year’s celebration coincides with the 5th Population and Housing Census, where the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) will start enumeration to update data on core demographic, social and economic indicators.

The census will in turn inform the formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of national and international development plans and programmes that the country has committed on, particularly the NST1, Vision 2050, and SDGs as well as the Africa Agenda 2063.

This WPD’s theme being “A world of 8 billion: Towards a resilient future for all - Harnessing opportunities and ensuring rights and choices for all,” the World will need to reaffirm commitments and the urgency to put women and girls at the center of efforts to recover from Covid-19 and build forward and better.