This was the first population census to be conducted in Malawi after independence.
It is revealed that large numbers of immigrant *Lomwe* were registered as Chewa in this census.
Other history readings further indicate that even some *Sena* people were registered as Chewa during this 1966 population census.
This is cited as among the reasons why the results of this census showed Chewa to be more than 50 percent of the entire Malawi population which was not the case with the last population census done during the colonial era.
The results of this 1966 population census which showed Chewa to be more that 50 percent, were used in 1968 as basis to justify the declaration of chiChewa as the only national language and removing (other say ‘banning’) chiTumbuka from radio MBC , print media and schools as well as literally burning the Tumbuka literature. +++ Sources:
_Leroy Vail (1978). Ethinicity, Language, and National Unity:The Case of Malawi.
Leroy Vail and Lendeg White (1989). Tribalism in the Political History of Malawi._
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