By: Markus Behrend, UNFPA Representative in Ecuador
This year the world's population will reach 8 billion people. Poverty has been reduced and important advances have been made in health care and in reducing mortality. People are living longer and healthier lives.
The World Population Day on July 11th is the day designated to recall the advances made, but also the challenges ahead such as exponential population growth. In a challenging context and with limited resources, the focus is moving towards sustainable development, achieving adequate living conditions and guaranteeing human rights.
Ecuador is a diverse, multicultural and multiethnic country, with approximately 17.9 million inhabitants. The most important statistical operation of the last 12 years will take place in 2022: the VIII Population Census, VII Housing Census and I Communities Census.
The census is the main source of sociodemographic information and will provide an updated diagnosis of the population and its living conditions. This data is necessary to guide future public policy planning processes and effective private initiatives. It will include questions related to indigenous peoples and nationalities, Afro-descendants and Montubios, the LGBTIQ+ population, people with disabilities, people in human mobility and other population groups. The data from the census will make the current realities and demographic changes visible, and is essential in order to leave no one behind.
The committed work of the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC) has made the planning of an innovative and inclusive census possible, which has the support of various national government agencies, the United Nations System and the World Bank. For it to be successful, it is important that all sectors of the population actively participate in the census and view it as an opportunity for the development of their families and communities. This call is to welcome the census and actively cooperate with this national project. We all contribute to the Ecuador 2022 Census.
