In the closing days of Cameroon's synchronised census of population, housing, agriculture and livestock, enumerators in the border localities of the Ntem Valley, in the South Region, raced to reach the households they had missed. In Abang Minko, officials said 89% of the work was done. The remaining 11% was the hardest: traders away at markets, farmers in fields, families that move across the border, and households that had not been sensitised enough.
Key facts
- What: the synchronised population and housing census and agricultural and livestock census.
- Where: Abang Minko and Kyossi, in the Ntem Valley division, South Region, on the borders with Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
- Progress in Abang Minko: 89% of the work completed, according to officials.
- Challenges named: intense mobility for economic reasons, cross-border trade, reluctant or insufficiently informed households, and a diverse local population.
- What teams are doing: a 'proximity' approach, going to markets and farms and arranging meetings at home, with traditional rulers involved.
- Field work closed: 15 September 2026, after two extensions.
Why the border is the hard part
Border localities live on trade. Families are busy and out of the house for most of the day, selling, farming or looking after livestock. The first difficulty is therefore simply finding people at home, which is what the census needs.
The movement of people along Cameroon's borders with Equatorial Guinea and Gabon made a carefully mapped-out strategy a necessity. In Abang Minko, the 'proximity button' was activated: census agents went to where people actually were, in the markets and the farming and livestock areas, and arranged to meet others at home.
Reluctance and sensitisation
The second challenge was attitude. Some families were reluctant, officials said, mainly because they had not been sensitised enough. The authorities, the administration and local leaders worked to change that.
Nearby in Kyossi, the final days had a specific target: people who may have been missed in the enumeration phase. Officials explained that the locality poses a number of challenges because of intense mobility for economic reasons, and that the diverse make-up of the population made the involvement of traditional rulers crucial.
“We have collected all the data for the population, agriculture and livestock. After the deadline, we will do another survey which will enable us to know who was counted or not.”
— Bernadette Mbarga, Director General, Central Bureau of Census and Population Studies
Why a census matters for the economy
A census is not only a head count. The stated goal is to align the state's development ambitions with the needs of the population. Budgets for schools, health centres, roads and local councils all depend on knowing how many people live where, and how they earn a living.
That makes it relevant to the story on decentralised funds in the story on council funding, where 374 councils receive money for services, and to the question of who is registered in the tax system in our story on the income tax filing drive. Agricultural and livestock data also matter for export crops, as shown in the story on cocoa, coffee and EU rules.
A census twenty years in the making
Field work began on 24 April 2026 and was meant to end on 29 May. It closed on 15 September, after two extensions signed by the Prime Minister. Cameroon Tribune listed the obstacles at national level: delayed allowances for enumerators, logistics, reluctant households in dense urban areas, and access problems in remote and insecure zones.
The stakes are high because the previous census dates from November 2005, when Cameroon counted 17,463,836 people, and its results only came out in April 2010. Before this exercise, projections from the Central Bureau for Censuses and Population Studies (BUCREP) put the population above 28.8 million. This time, the count was paired for the first time with the core module of the agriculture and livestock census and carried out on digital tablets, with results expected within about five months of the close.
What to watch next
The key moment is the post-enumeration survey that will check who was and was not counted. Officials say enumeration, initially timid in many areas, improved significantly in the days before the deadline. The official results and their publication date will show how complete the count really is.
More in this round-up
- Cameroon Tells High Earners: File Your Income Tax or Be Named
- Cameroon Moves to Track Hidden Financial Assets, With World Bank Help
- 5,971 Civil Servants Abroad: Cameroon Audits Its State Payroll
- Cameroon's Treasury Single Account: Finding Public Money Parked in Banks
- IMF Mission Chief on Cameroon's Fuel Subsidy: Costly and Poorly Targeted
- Cameroon's Councils Got 157 Billion FCFA for Projects, and Lost 78 Billion to Missed Deadlines
- Cameroon's Cocoa and Coffee Race to Prove 'Zero Deforestation' to the EU
- Cameroon Tells Geneva: Small Firms Are 99% of the Economy, and Weak Accounts Block Their Finance
- Cameroon Economy Roundup, September 2026: Tax Drive, Payroll Audit and Treasury Reform
Sources and further reading: Cameroon Tribune (national daily), United Nations Statistics Division, census resources, Cameroon Tribune, 16 September 2026. Field reporting: Clarice Arrey Tarkang, with Gustave Kaniwa in Kyossi. National timeline and historical figures come from Cameroon Tribune. Updated 7 November 2026.
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