Ecuador’s figure of 16.9 million will be adjusted in November due to a census miss

The population and housing census counted 16,938,986 people in Ecuador. This is a lower figure than the 18.1 million that was predicted to be reached in 2022, which was made twelve years ago, in 2010. The possibility that the figure is lower has already been warned in recent months. The National Institute of Statistics and the Population Census (INEC) itself, especially based on three factors: the lowest number of births, the highest number of deaths and a larger wave of migration. In short, Ecuador is growing more slowly in terms of population.

However, in addition, the data on the 16.9 million inhabitants presented this Wednesday, September 21, 2023, will be adjusted in November, when the so-called omission of the population census.

Thus, at the end of November, there will be a more accurate figure of how many inhabitants Ecuador has. This was clarified by the Director of INEC, Roberto Castillo, who also clarified that the omission of the list happens in all processes of this kind. However, with technical work, it is possible to determine the segment that is no longer registered, and therefore an increase in the population will certainly be recorded. For example, in the 2010 population census, the omission was determined two years later, and amounted to half a million people. Now, Castillo said, thanks to the tools and experience INEC has, the data will be available in two months.

In any case, he assured that the Population Census in 2022, despite the problems that occurred, including a very strong wave of violence, managed to cover 95 percent of the population. In the meantime, he assured that 99% of the visited homes opened their doors to them.

Castillo also explained where the difference is between the assumptions from 2012 and the data collected in 2022, about births, deaths and migration waves.

As for births, he said that a noticeable change is being observed in terms of fertility, and this is transforming the image or the face of the population. In 2010, 4.37 million newborns were expected. However, the increase in births has slowed over time. Thus, while 310,273 boys and girls were born in 2010, in 2022 there were 250,277.

1.17 million deaths were also predicted, but there were 90,000 more deaths, especially during the COVID period, and more violent deaths were recorded. The migration wave is much more pronounced than estimated.

In the last three years, 247,955 households indicated that at least one person in that household had died. While 96,236 families said that one of their members left the country and did not return.

On the other hand, an interesting data from the population census is that there is greater coverage of all public services, especially electricity, with 97.5%; garbage collection, with 88.7%; and in access it leads through public networks with 84.2%. The least covered service is the public sewage network, with 65.8%, but it recorded the highest growth since 2010.

However, Roberto Castillo pointed out that the water data only refers to piped water, which is no guarantee that it is suitable for human consumption. As an example, he stated that in Amazonia, many populations get water from the public network, but it is not purified; then, comes contaminated with E coli and is therefore not suitable for human beings. In this sense, he said that it is necessary to ensure that the water is drinkable.

Finally, he called on national and regional authorities to use information from the census. For example, he said the El Niño phenomenon is coming and data from the census will be vital, as it will be possible to identify potential beneficiaries or vulnerable populations, so that governments can protect them.