POPULATION DATA

 

Refers to the information pertaining to population concerning some economic, social and demographic matter

 

Sources of Population Data:-

 

There are divided into primary and secondary datasources.

 

Primary (Traditional) Sources:-

 

1.            Periodic national censuses.

2.          Vital registration systems which deal with vital events like births, deaths, marriages, divorces and migrations.

3.            Sample surveys and inquiries.

 

Secondary Sources of Population Data:-

 

There are the most widely used sources of population data. They include tall types, published reports, unpublished reports and statistical abstracts.

 

 

VITAL REGISTRATION OF PERSONS:-

 

This involves the registration of events like births, deaths marriages. This is a basic source of data of a population. The registration of births is used to calculate the birth rate of a country. It is also used to determine the number of persons added to a community over a period. Such figures are lacking in rural areas because numerous births are not registered. Registration of births is common in towns becausechildren are mainlyborn in hospitals and birth certificates are demanded on registering children in schools. Deaths of babies are used to calculate infant mortality rates. The registration of all deathsassists in determining the number of people that are departing the population in relation to the births and this helps in economic planning. The registration of newly marriedcouples assists in estimating the number of parents in a country. Registration of refugees is vital in knowing the rate of their inflow into a country.

 

In most developed countries vital registration systems are quite developed but in developing countries like in East they are not yet well developed. However, at present most population data for the majority countries are obtained from censuses, which are usually conducted at ten – year intervals.

 

 

CENSUS

This is a process of collecting, compiling and publishing demographic, economic and social data pertaining to a specified time or times to all persons in a country or delieated territory.

 

Characteristics of Censuses

 

Censuses have the following characteristics:

 

1.        Universality within a specified territory: Ideally for the census to be universal it must cover the whole territory or country and all people residing in the country or including those who are absent if it is dejure census. Whenever this proportional of the population that has been covered. But there is not any country that covers all people since many people tend to be absent and some are reluctant to give information etc.

2.        Periodicity: Regular periodicity or interval is highly necessary in censuses. Hence censuses are taken at certain interval like after every ten years etc. Specified interval helps to analyzethe data in a more dimensional way. Also UN recommends that censuses should be taken at regular intervals in order to get comparable information with a fixed sequence. For example in Tanzania censuses were taken at an interval of ten years from 1948, 1957, 1967, 1978, 1988. The subsequent was expected to take place in 1998 but it took place in 2002. The delay was due to financial constraints.

3.        Specificity: They are for a certain country, territory or category of people in the country and for certain purpose like for political or economic planning.

4.All persons (Individual Enumeration): They involve counting of the number of persons in certain specifiedcountry or territoryand every individual to be listed separately together with their personal characteristics.

5.        Simultaneity: They take place at the same specified time throughout the country or territory. This helps in producing comparative and logical censuses. E.g. in Tanzania the 1967, 1978, 1988 censuses were assumed to be taken on the 26/27 date midnight of August. More often enumeration sometimes does not need to be completed on the same date but the official time remains the midnight. Nonetheless, the more the time is used in enumeration the more difficult it becomes to avoid omissions of enumerations.

6.          Census is costly since they need resources and time in enumerating the population.

 

Types of Census

 

These can be categorized either according to approach of undertaking the census or according to the time interval with which the censuses are conducted in the country or territory.

 

According to Approach:

 

A Census can be either de jure orde facto.

 

De jure censusis the one in which the people are countedaccording to their usual place of residence where only permanent members of household are counted. The weakness of this type is that it regards people as if they are static while they are dynamic.

De facto census is the one in which the people are counter wherever they are found on the day of enumeration, that is, all people who stayed in the household for the night are counted.

 

Census, therefore, gives a population profile. From census data the main characteristics of population as well as the level of socio – economic development of countries are revealed.

 

According to the Time Interval:

 

Quinquennial censusrefers to the censuscarried out after every five years, while

decennial census is the type of censuscarried out afterevery ten years.

 

The Objectives of Modern Censuses:-

 

1.          To provide a complete account of all members of a country by age and sex. The age and sex distributions are so important for socio – economic planning which help in estimating births, deaths, and growth rates.

2.         To obtain the detailed statistics on the size, nature and distribution of the labor force. This concerns the economically active people in the population in terms of industrial activities, employment status, skills and levels of specialization.

3.          To determine the literacy and illiteracy rates of the population in the relevant age groups. This provides information on the distribution of the literate population in different educational and technical fields and the scientific and the technical capacity of manpower.

4.        To provide social and economic information on household and housing conditions such as occupancy, type of ownership and availability of household facilities.

5.          To provide the complete picture of all places and persons, villages, wards and households for the whole country. Such picture is useful in planning development projects and in organizing nationwide and other sample surveys. Hence, population data is used for facilitating national planning of public programs such as determining the number of school places and teachers, location of hospitals and water sources and other service center, and the employment of the population.

 

Limitations of Censuses

 

Expenses: Censuses are very expensive since they involve training of manpower, transport, food and other operations for their undertakings.

 

There are problems of omissions of some of the members especially those who tend to be absent during counting and poor coverage, Enumeration becomes a big problem where the society has members who are nomadic or semi – nomadic.

 

There are problems of misreporting especially of ages and underestimations of some of the aspects of population characteristics.

 

These are the errors, which make censusesfail to depictthe true pictureof the population.

                                                    MANPOWER MOBILIZATION IN TANZANIA

Manpower mobilization is the processof organizing or gathering people together so that they can use their potentials in doingdifferent development activities in the countryor certain community.

 

 

Why do we need to Mobilize Manpower?

 

1.        To be able to utilizethe resources sustainably in order to avoid exhaustion or destruction.

2.        To improve efficiency in the production process.    It facilitates the processof combating environmental problems by encouraging the adoption of environmental conservation measures.

4.        Manpower mobilization facilities supervision and evaluation of different activities.   It encourages the advancement of technology since people can be trainedeasily once they are mobilized.

6.      Also, it becomes easy to help or assist people once they are mobilized.They can be given services like medicine, transport, etc without  incurring unnecessary costs.

7.                                       Manpower mobilization facilities industrial development since it assures a reliable labor supply in the industries and other economicsectors that influenceindustrial development.

 

8.    Manpower mobilization leads to increasedpeople’s participation in the decisionmaking

process                 that                 cover                 different                economic                 activities.

 

Strategies of ManpowerMobilization in Tanzania

 1.   Through establishing ujamaa, villages under socialist policy introduced by the late Mwalimu Nyerere. Being in villages people could work together and get services more easily.

2.      Introduction and reinforcement of Manpower deployment policy (Nguvu kazi) in which all people were supposed to work rather than loitering in the streets aimlessly. In this case, anybody who was seen roaming about without work was put to task. Each person was supposed to move along with him/her bearing an identity card or any document verifying card or any document verifying that he/she is not a loiterer and hence his/her movement is justifiable.

3.      The government also decided to employ peoplein the public sectors so as to serve for the development of the community or the country as a whole. For example some people are employed in the industries, construction activities, hospitals, schools, etc.

 

4.   Conscripting people in the National service camps like Mafinga, Mlale, Ruvu and Masange in         order     that        they       can               produce and         help    in          the        building

of the nation.

 

1.      The government is encouraging people to form groups so that they can be given loans that can be used as capital to be invested in different economic sectors. For example PRIDE AFRICA and Mama Mkapa’s Trust Fund that offers equal opportunity for all are geared towards financing people so that they can engage themselves in different economic activities so as to facilitate the general development of the country while fighting against poverty. Coupled with this is the relaxation of condition in security the credits.

2.      There has been establishment of small marketplaces for small traders like the Machingas complex e.g. at Makumbusho area and near Karume stadium in Dar es Salaam.

3.        Establishing small Scale Industries like SIDO in which local people are involved in the production. Example of SIDO can be drawn from Gerezani in Dar es Salaam. Most of these industries use appropriate technology that utilizes local skills.

4.        Provision of education and special training to people so that they can be ready to face different challenges with confidence and strong determination while having clear direction of their efforts.

 

 

 

Problems Facing the Mobilization of Manpower in Tanzania

1.                               Lack of capital to be invested in different economic sectors where human labor will be employed. For example, there are no enough industries to absorb skilled labor from universities.