Chapter 1347 - 356: The World’s Third Most Populous Great Power (Two-in-One)

Chapter 1347: Chapter 356: The World’s Third Most Populous Great Power (Two-in-One)

Mbea City.

The current round of the population census in East Africa is significantly more challenging and labor-intensive compared to ten years ago.

Ten years ago, during the complete planned economy era, the population mobility in East Africa was weak, and the direction of population movement was very clear and defined. Due to policy restrictions, traveling to other regions required various procedures.

However, since the market was opened, East Africa’s control over the population has drastically reduced. Under the market economy, the mobility of people increased, and their movement patterns became less predictable. After all, at this time, population movement is entirely driven by money, naturally flowing where more money can be earned.

The means of making money are diverse and fundamentally unpredictable, which has caused East Africa’s population flow to become completely chaotic.

Outwiss Town.

This is a town under the jurisdiction of Mbea City. To investigate the area’s population situation, the staff of the Mbea City Bureau of Statistics had no choice but to delve into rural areas at the grassroots level.

Currently, the staff members Fengte and Rhine from the Mbea City Bureau of Statistics are conducting investigation work in Amforscht Village under Outwiss Town.

Fengte and Rhine are both young people, and at this moment, they are talking to the village chief Deer at the village committee of Amforscht Village.

Fengte, holding a document, said to Village Chief Deer, "Village Chief Deer, the document I have here is a summary of the household registration records of Outwiss Town. According to the records of Outwiss Town, your Amforscht Village has a household registered population of 3,208 people. After our verification, the actual residing population in this village is 2,097 people."

"We want to know the specific whereabouts of the 1,111 people not in the village. We also wish to understand the recent birth and death situation in the village. Are you aware of these details?"

Facing the two government officials from above, Village Chief Deer responded with a slight smile, "Currently, the population of our village roughly matches the data. Although I don’t remember the exact number of villagers, it certainly exceeds 3,000."

"As for those not in the village, I’m not very clear about their specific whereabouts. Previously, if someone wanted to leave the village, they required a letter of introduction or other documents, and they all came to me as the village chief for a stamp."

"But since 1910, when the country no longer restricted normal population movement, villagers leaving the village no longer require review. They might just leave on a whim and head to other places."

"In recent years, with policy opening, many people choose to work outside to support their families, particularly during the farming off-season. Some people even stay outside all year, and some have already transferred their household registration to other places."

With the end of the complete planned economy era, the travel freedom of East Africans has significantly increased. Amforscht Village is a typical example where almost half of the village population is outside. Clearly, this is not the case for everyone.

For instance, in some families, couples might go out to work together and may very likely give birth outside, resulting in children’s household registrations not being promptly updated in the village.

Additionally, in the early stages of East Africa’s economic opening, the social order was quite turbulent, and public security issues were chaotic. Some might have disappeared unexpectedly, yet their household registrations remain in Amforscht Village. Other factors also contribute to inaccurate population data, which requires East African Government verification.

In the following days, Fengte and Rhine, along with grassroots cadres from Amforscht Village, began focusing on these detailed issues through investigations, visits, and phone communications to confirm the actual population situation of Amforscht Village.

From the situation in Amforscht Village alone, the difficulties of population statistics can be seen. Just for Amforscht Village, confirming the population status had the phones nearly smoking from use.

Therefore, conducting a population census is difficult to accomplish relying solely on the East African Bureau of Statistics. Other departments of the East African Government also join in or cooperate actively in the population census process.

But even so, in the end, the East African Government cannot guarantee the complete accuracy of the statistical data. In fact, even in the 21st century, an era of highly developed information, population census work could hardly ensure complete accuracy.

...

Although the progress of the population census is slow, the East African Government still managed to obtain a rough population data of East Africa.

This is quite normal. East African citizens are tied to their household registration. Aside from those yet to complete population registration or due to unexpected events not updating in time (like missing and death) or those without official registration, the vast majority of East African residents’ household registration status is normal.

Therefore, the East African Government only needs to preliminarily statistically organize and summarize nationwide household registrations to obtain a rough national population situation, which is the "initial verification." As for other unexpected situations causing data distortion and errors, their impact on the overall picture is actually minimal, especially for East Africa, a great power in terms of population.

After all, East Africa has been a great power with a population of over one hundred million since ten years ago. For a family, losing a member is undoubtedly a tremendous event, but for a population-giant like East Africa, unless large-scale population die-offs are caused by wars, plagues, etc., some detailed situations are not very critical.

Rhein City.

The Director of the East African National Bureau of Statistics, Langfult, and the Minister of Civil Affairs, Wolnitz, along with other departments, reported the preliminary verification of East Africa’s population to Ernst.