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Data

Population census recently completed

About this data

Population census recently completed
Population census completed in the last 10 years. Population censuses collect data on the size, distribution and composition of the population.
Source
UN Statistics Division (2024) – processed by Our World in Data
Last updated
October 21, 2024
Next expected update
June 2026
Date range
1985–2023

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

UN Statistics Division – 2020 World Population and Housing Census Programme

The 2020 World Population and Housing Census Programme recognizes population and housing censuses as one of the primary sources of data needed for formulating, implementing and monitoring policies and programmes aimed at inclusive socioeconomic development and environmental sustainability. It comprises a number of inter-related objectives and activities aimed at ensuring that Member States conduct at least one population and housing census during the period from 2015 to 2024.

Retrieved on
October 21, 2024
Retrieved from
https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic-social/census/censusdates/
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
World Population and Housing Census Programme, UN Statistics Division, https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic-social/census/censusdates/ (2024)

The 2020 World Population and Housing Census Programme recognizes population and housing censuses as one of the primary sources of data needed for formulating, implementing and monitoring policies and programmes aimed at inclusive socioeconomic development and environmental sustainability. It comprises a number of inter-related objectives and activities aimed at ensuring that Member States conduct at least one population and housing census during the period from 2015 to 2024.

Retrieved on
October 21, 2024
Retrieved from
https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic-social/census/censusdates/
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
World Population and Housing Census Programme, UN Statistics Division, https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic-social/census/censusdates/ (2024)

How we process data at Our World in Data

All data and visualizations on Our World in Data rely on data sourced from one or several original data providers. Preparing this original data involves several processing steps. Depending on the data, this can include standardizing country names and world region definitions, converting units, calculating derived indicators such as per capita measures, as well as adding or adapting metadata such as the name or the description given to an indicator.

At the link below you can find a detailed description of the structure of our data pipeline, including links to all the code used to prepare data across Our World in Data.

Read about our data pipeline

Reuse this work

  • All data produced by third-party providers and made available by Our World in Data are subject to the license terms from the original providers. Our work would not be possible without the data providers we rely on, so we ask you to always cite them appropriately (see below). This is crucial to allow data providers to continue doing their work, enhancing, maintaining and updating valuable data.
  • All data, visualizations, and code produced by Our World in Data are completely open access under the Creative Commons BY license. You have the permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited.

Citations

How to cite this page

To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: Population census recently completed”, part of the following publication: Bastian Herre and Pablo Arriagada (2023) - “State Capacity”. Data adapted from UN Statistics Division. Retrieved from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20260518-083815/grapher/population-census-world-bank.html [online resource] (archived on May 18, 2026).

How to cite this data

In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

UN Statistics Division (2024) – processed by Our World in Data

Full citation

UN Statistics Division (2024) – processed by Our World in Data. “Population census recently completed” [dataset]. UN Statistics Division, “2020 World Population and Housing Census Programme” [original data]. Retrieved May 18, 2026 from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20260518-083815/grapher/population-census-world-bank.html (archived on May 18, 2026).

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