Counting over along ethnic and religious lines

On the territory of Macedonia, the long-awaited population census will be carried out from April 1 to April 21 next year. As the director of the State Statistical Office Apostol Simevski pointed out, the census will last three weeks.

“It will cover all people, including those who are present and absent from the state. The law envisages an option for those who will not give data personally, data to be given by those who know them best. We expect in the six months after the census to have final results, “said Simevski.

According to him, the census is an expensive operation, it takes a long time and will cost about 8.5 million euros. “Some of these funds will be spent this year in order to provide equipment. As for the Diaspora, there will be no classic census. They will have the opportunity to register through a separate web application, “said Simevski.

The Director explained that the census will be conducted electronically and will provide data on geographical, demographic, economic, educational, ethno-cultural, religious characteristics and data for people with special needs.

Simovski says that with the new census that will be the first implemented in 16 years, there will be no possibility of double-counting, because once a persons’ ID number is entered  in the system, it shows that the person is already enumerated. Such an “error” can occur not only for people who are absent from the state, but also for students and other citizens who do not live at the address indicated in the ID card.

About 6,000 people will be engaged in the census of the population, households and dwellings, of which 5,000 enumerators, 500 regional instructors, 200 state instructors and members of the census commissions.

For the first time, a combined method is used, i.e. data to be collected on the field, as well as data from state registers.

The electronic enumeration means that enumerators will go on the field with tablets in which the census application will be entered, which will enable faster data collection. Likewise, this can later be processed more easily and quickly. Therefore, Simevski said that they have set a deadline for publishing the data six months after the completion of the census, and perhaps sooner.

The entire territory of the state will be divided into 45 census areas.

The Government at the last session proposed to the Parliament to adopt the census bill – 2020. (B.B.)