2015 POPULATION AND HOUSING CENSUS Volume 1: Management Report and Basic Tables SEPTEMBER 1, 2016 National Statistics Office, Ministry of Finance, Bairiki, Tarawa Republic of Kiribati 2015 POPULATION AND HOUSING CENSUS Volume 1: Management Report and Basic Tables National Statistics Office Ministry of Finance Bairiki, Tarawa. September 2016 1 Foreword and Words of Acknowledgment The 2015 population census is the 13th population census in Kiribati since the first census in 1931 and many people and organizations have been involved in the planning and preparatory activities—during the actual census enumeration phase, and in the subsequent coding and data entry phase leading up to the write-up and completion of this report—and I want to thank all of them. I wish however to name some that I think deserve mentioning because of their “greater involvement” such as the census advisory committee, UNFPA, SPC, and DFAT. Although the census advisory committee is supposed to be an administrative or management body overseeing and monitoring the progress of the census project, some of the members in fact did provide technical assistance as well. For instance, Wayne Reiher (MFED IT manager), with the assistance of Dr Iete Rouatu, designed the CSPRO data entry program and set up the computers for the census data entry operators—but Mr Reiher left the census project halfway through the project when he got appointed to the IT Manager post within the Ministry of Communication. Oritite Raimon (current MFED IT manager) continued from Mr Reiher and provided the IT support to the census management team until the project came to an end. Tawaria Komwenga, chairman or the committee, was instrumental in moving the census forward with his administrative skill and administrative connections but he had to leave before the census came to a conclusion to attend an attachment program in the US in early 2016, and Ms Danietta Apisai took over the role as chairperson of the census advisory committee. Ms Apisai did an excellent job in ensuring that the census management team work according to the agreed census plan and timetable. Teewa Tonaeka from the Ministry of Internal Affairs was the key person in mobilizing and coordinating the support of the island councils and became the main official link between the census management team and the island councils. I wish also to thank Dr Rouatu, the census technical advisor, for guiding and supporting the population census project right from its start up to the completion of the project—he also assisted me in drafting this report. Tiaotin Enari, from the Lands Division, was not a committee member but he was asked to assist in the household listing given his experience in using GPS and GPS related programs and I want to extend our gratitude to him. Although there were problems encountered in the household listing exercise, when the GPS equipment were used, he nevertheless performed his job energetically and satisfactorily. I extend also words of thanks to Neeti Komeri who supervised the census operation in the Line islands, and to Kairoronga who kindly agreed to enumerate people on Kanton island. Nei Ruria Abere was our first accountant but had to leave after getting another job elsewhere and Teariba Riurate took over until the end of the project. I do not forget also my work colleagues Aritita Tekaeti1, Agnether Lemuelu, and Teimaro Boutu, with whom I shared the moments of ups and downs while the census project moved from phase to phase until the completion of the census project. We enjoyed times when we have successfully completed a census task or phase or when we have presented a successful progress report, but we did also felt very bad when something significant went wrong, such as when the household listing using GPS was not producing the expected results, or when all students from one boarding school left their school without being 1 The Ag Republican Statistician, and former census commissioner for the 2000 census. 2 counted2, or when we found out that on one island the population has significantly increased due to some national convention or meeting, or when our presentation to the census committee got mixed up. And to all census staff—supervisors and enumerators—permanent and temporary—I thank you all—without your cooperation and participation the 2015 population census for Kiribati would not have come to a successful completion. Last but not least, I want to thank our Kiribati government for having faith in our ability to carry out a successful census despite the lack of overseas TAs right from the inception stage to the completion of the census project. I sincerely hope that the results from this census meet the needs and the expectations of our government, and other interested users. Kam rabwa Orebwa Morate Census Commissioner 2 The names of these students and their particulars were subsequently taken from the school headquarter. 3 Contents Foreword and Words of Acknowledgment.......................................................................................................... 2 GLOSSARY ............................................................................................................................................................. 8 1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................................................... 9 2. Background information ................................................................................................................................ 11 3. Census Management ...................................................................................................................................... 14 4. Census budget ................................................................................................................................................ 16 5. Population Census Main Preparatory Activities ........................................................................................... 18 5.1 Census project formulation and funding ................................................................................................. 18 5.2 Household listing ...................................................................................................................................... 18 5.3 Questionnaire design ............................................................................................................................... 19 5.4 Pilot census ............................................................................................................................................... 20 5.5 Recruitment and training of supervisors ................................................................................................. 21 5.6 Recruitment and training of enumerators .............................................................................................. 23 5.7 Public awareness or publicity .................................................................................................................. 23 6. Census enumeration on the 7th November 2015 .......................................................................................... 24 7. Census in the Line islands .............................................................................................................................. 25 8. Coding and Data entry ................................................................................................................................... 27 9. Tabulations ..................................................................................................................................................... 29 POPULATION TABLES ......................................................................................................................................... 30 Table 1a: Population and No of Households by Island: 2010, 2015 ............................................................. 31 Table 1b: Population and No of Households by Island, Ethnicity and Land Area: 2015 .............................. 32 Table 2a: Population by Island, Sex and Type of Household: 2015 .............................................................. 33 Table 2b: Population by Island, Sex, and Age Group: 2015 ......................................................................... 34 Table 3: Population by Village, Sex, And Age Group : 2015 .......................................................................... 35 Table 4: Population By Island and Ethnicity: 2015 ........................................................................................ 52 Table 5: Population by single year age group, urban and rural area: 2015 ................................................. 53 Table 6: Population by island, sex and religion: 2015 ................................................................................... 56 Table 7: Population by Home Country, Sex, and Broad Age Group: 2015 .................................................. 60 Table 8: Population by 5 year age group, Sex, and Urban/Rural area: 2015 ............................................... 61 Table 9: Population (over 2years old) by Island Ever Attended School: 2015 ............................................. 62 Table 10: Population by island, attending school this year: 2015 ................................................................ 63 Table 11: School population attending school by island and what level if attending school this year: 2015 .......................................................................................................................................................................