NISR presents Northern province’s population characteristics

The National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) on Tuesday, 8th July 2014 presented to officials from the Northern Province, the population characteristics as revealed by the Fourth Population and Housing Census (2012 RPHC) during a workshop that took place in Musanze district.

On education side, almost all children (96%) aged 7 to 12 years attended primary school compared to 93% national wide, whereas, 72% and 68% of children aged 13 to 18 years attended secondary education at the province and national level respectively.

The Northern Province which accounts 1,726,370 residents in general, is doing well in terms of access to medical insurance where 93% of its resident population had medical insurance as of August 2012.

Moreover, a proportion estimated at 87.1% of children under 18 years in the same province were registered  compared to 79% at the national level. This  ranks the province on the top position in terms of birth registration compared to its counterparts. In addition, the 2012 RPHC revealed that 77% of all households in Northern Province have access to improved water against 72% at national level.

According to the results, the population density in this province is estimated at 527 inhabitants per sq.Km against 415 inhabitants per sq.Km at national level. Similarly, 8.2% of Northern Province households use electricity for lighting against 17% countrywide. 

On the side of  migration aspect, results show that 137,159 populations out-migrated from the Northern Province to other provinces within a period of five years prior the census time where by the majority of these out-migrant residents went to the Eastern province. Last but not least, there were 25,280 people who migrated from  across the country to  the Northern province during the same period, it said.

By: Claude Nyirimanzi