Census Failures Undermine State Capacity

Census miscounts and multi‑year gaps are common even in major democracies and can abruptly rewrite a country’s population baseline. Paraguay’s 2022 census came in 1.4 million below projections; India hasn’t censused since 2011; Nigeria’s counts are widely doubted. When the state can’t count, budgets, representation, and health/education planning become guesswork. — Accurate population baselines are a precondition for coherent policy, so widespread census failure distorts political maps and social spending far beyond statistics.