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Uganda's Vice-President, Maj. (Rtd) Jessica Alupo, has urged the public to embrace the ongoing census that kicked off on Friday.

She made the clarion call on Saturday after taking part in the enumeration exercise in her village of Oigo Imomwa, Ongongoja sub-county in Uganda's eastern district of Katakwi.

This is the 11th census conducted in Uganda since the first one that was done in 1948. 

It is the sixth census during the post-independence period.

In the 1969 census, Uganda had 9.5 million people, increasing to 34.8 million in the 2014 census. Estimates released last December put Uganda’s population at 46 million.

In Katakwi, Alupo told reporters shortly after the enumeration exercise that the information being gathered plays a critical role in guiding planning, policy formulation, and programme implementation.

It also helps in monitoring development progress in line with national goals and objectives, she added.

“These questions are very crucial for government to plan for you better because you cannot plan properly for people you do not know.

"Let us get the census so that it gives us the answers to all these questions, then we shall be able to know how to help our people. The purpose of the counting is mainly planning."

She assured Ugandans that "there is nothing bad about the census".

"If you are counted, it means the government will know that you are there, it will plan for you, and you will get better services.

"Therefore, I want to reiterate President Yoweri Museveni’s call urging Ugandans to participate in this exercise."

Alupo thanked the management and staff of Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) for working to ensure that census activities are always a success in the country.

Typically, a census is the main source of demographic and socio-economic statistics in any country.

Information gathered produces indicators such as household-based data on population, housing, agriculture, micro and small enterprises as well as community data.

It gives a government a complete picture of a nation at a given time such as the number of people living in a specific locality and the conditions under which they live.