Malawi begins new census

Malawi on Sunday began its fifth census since its 1964 independence from Britain, a decade after the last head count was held in the AIDS-blighted and impoverished southern African nation.

The 18-million-dollar (12-million-euro) project will see some 13,000 workers collecting data for three weeks.

"This is an opportunity for everyone to have an influence on Malawi's development by being counted," Charles Machinjiri, commissioner for the national statistical office, told AFP.

Machinjiri said the preliminary results will be announced after three months, with full results in December.

The Malawi government, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Britain, Germany and Ireland are sponsoring the project.

Malawi conducted its last census in 1998 when the recorded population was 9.8 million.

The population is currently estimated at 12 million, three times the number established in the first census in 1966.

Malawi has been hard hit by AIDS. About 14 percent of the population is infected with the HIV virus, and the AIDS pandemic has cut life expectancy to 36.

The country is one of Africa's poorest, where half the population lives below the poverty line of one dollar a day.