Third census in post-Soviet Armenia to be taken by electronic questionnaire
Population census in Armenia
The Armenian government will conduct a population census this fall. It is scheduled for October 13-22 and will be the independent, post-Soviet Armenia’s third census. In addition, the questionnaire itself will be electronic, and will be ready within the month.
The Republic of Armenia’s first census was carried out in 2001, the second in 2011. A third was scheduled for 2020, but was delayed twice by the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the country’s legislation, a census shall be taken every 10 years.
Electronic questionnaires are intended to collect data on education, health, employment, and the living conditions of inhabitants. The results of the census will be ready in a year, it is said.
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A commission headed by Deputy Prime Minister Hambartsum Matevosyan has been formed to prepare and conduct the census.
The census is a form of mass registration of the population. Based on its results, data are obtained on the size and structure of the population, as well as some socio-demographic characteristics. The government takes these as a basis for drawing up strategic plans.
The census program was developed by the Statistical Committee of Armenia. The rationale for the project states that
- the program was developed in accordance with UN methodology and principles,
- the comments of interested entities and partnering international organizations were taken into account,
- maximum comparability with data from previous censuses will be ensured
“Some questions may be left blank”
The questionnaire will contain 44 questions on:
- name, surname, address of registration,
- birthday, month and year, place of birth,
- gender, marital status,
- nationality and citizenship
- knowledge of languages,
- work and other sources of income (for example cash assistance),
- information about eyesight, hearing, movement, memory, communication, as well as self-care skills
“There are questions that people can refuse to answer. These are questions about nationality, language, religion. Personal data is confidential, we do not disclose it. This is written in the census law. We publish only summary data. People should have no doubt about this when answering. But our results depend on their correct answers,” cautioned Vardan Gevorgyan, head of the Statistical Committee’s census operations department.
Modern approach to the census
For the first time, the census will be conducted using electronic data collection questionnaires.
If in the past data were collected manually and then entered into the system, now the questionnaire, filled out on a tablet screen, will be automatically sent to the server.
The head of the operational department of the census also said the program is completely ready for launch and testing of the server has begun.
At the end of data collection, according to Vardan Gevorgyan, their processing will begin, which will take some time. Therefore, the final results of the census will be ready only in a year.
Population census in Armenia
