After a two-year delay caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, in October of this year, the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (SORS) will implement the Census of Population, Households and Dwellings in the Republic of Serbia. Preparations for the Census are well advanced - the competition for the selection of 2 500 instructors in the Census has ended, and the competition for the selection of 15 000 enumerators is ahead.
The representatives of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia spoke at the conference about the course of activities so far, as well as the upcoming competition for the selection of enumerators - the applying conditions for the competition, the method of selection, training and fieldwork:
1) Snežana Lakčević, Assistant Director for Social Statistics Sector
2) Mladen Veličković, Head of the Legal Affairs Department
The population census is the most complex statistical survey - not only in terms of content and methodological solutions, but also in terms of its specific organization. More than 20 000 participants will be engaged in field implementation of the census.
Unlike all previous censuses, in which data were collected by filling out paper questionnaires, in 2022 Census, portable computers, i.e. laptops, will be used for data collection for the first time. The method of carrying out the census is traditional, enumerators collect data directly from citizens, going "door to door". For the first time in the census, paper questionnaires are not filled out, but data are entered into electronic questionnaires using laptops.
The methodology of 2022 Census is fully aligned with international recommendations for censuses conducted around 2020.
In accordance with the Law on Official Statistics and the Law on the Census, data collected in the Census will be used exclusively for statistical purposes, and SORS will take all administrative, technical and organizational measures necessary to protect the collected data;
The data collected in the Census cannot be used for the purpose of determining the obligations of citizens, nor can they be used as evidence for exercising the citizens' rights.
The preliminary results of the Census will be published within one month of the end of field data collection (by the end of November 2022), and final results will be published in accordance with the publication plan, successively, starting from April 2023, up to June 2024.
The census is prepared, organized and carried out by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, whereby certain tasks related to Census on the territory of municipalities, cities and the City of Belgrade are carried out through census commissions. At the end of May, 161 census commissions were formed. Census commissions have from 3 to 7 members, depending on the number of inhabitants, the number of settlements and the area of the territory. Also, in 74 municipalities/cities with multi-ethnic population, we appointed 88 members of representatives of national minorities in cooperation with the Coordination of National Councils of National Minorities.
The Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and special organizations (RGZ, Commissariat for refugees and migration), local self-government units and other bodies, organizations and institutions participate in preparation and implementation of the Census, within their competence.
The direct executors of the Census in the field are instructors and enumerators. It is planned to engage about 2 200 instructors and about 15 000 enumerators for the field implementation of the census.
Given that electronic questionnaires will be used in the Census, it is necessary that all direct participants have basic computer skills.
Enumerators are obliged to attend a five-day training before starting the enumeration, to master the methodology of the Census and work in the data collection application, and to tour the field with the instructor. From October 1 to 31, they are required to enumerate all census units (dwellings, households and individuals), in the territory assigned to them, using a laptop for entering data into electronic questionnaires.
About 20% more candidates than the required number (instructors and enumerators) will attend the training in order to provide the necessary reserve in case of withdrawal during the census. Preference will be given to persons with a higher level of education and the unemployed.
Interested citizens apply for work in the Census exclusively via the Internet, by completing an electronic application on SORS website (www.stat.gov.rs) or the Census website (popis2022.stat.gov.rs), which is announced in the public call. Registration lasts from July 22 to August 5. The enumerator engagement period is from September 23 to October 31, 2022.
In addition to this important information about the upcoming Census, at the press conference, Snežana Lakčević reminded that 2022 is not only a census year, but also a year in which we celebrate a significant anniversary - 160 years of official statistics in Serbia.
The beginning of official statistics in Serbia is considered April 18, 1862, when Prince Mihailo Obrenović signed an act obliging the Economic Department of the Ministry of Finance to conduct statistical work for all branches of state administration. The head of the department was prof. Vladimir Jakšić, PhD.
Economic Department, Statistical Department, Directorate of State Statistics, Statistical Office, Institute of Statistics and Records, Statistical Office and Republic Statistical Office - are the names of the institutions that in the previous 160 years kept the official statistics of Serbia.
The first population census in Serbia was carried out in 1834, between the two world wars two population censuses were carried out, while after the Second World War the first census was carried out in 1948, as a "shortened census" for the purpose of rebuilding the infrastructure and requesting compensation for damage, and after 1961, the census takes place every ten years.
