BAKU: Azerbaijan Census Begins Today

AZERBAIJAN CENSUS BEGINS TODAY

APA
April 13 2009
Azerbaijan

Baku. Nijat Mustafayev – APA-ECONOMICS. Population census has begun
across Azerbaijan on April 13 and will last until April 22, said the
State Statistical Committee.

"We have started preparation since 2006. 24,000 people have been hired
and trained to conduct the census. We have set up 19 000 enumeration
stations across the country and we appointed one instructor per 5
canvassers, also called listers or enumerators, and 7 instructors form
an enumeration station. There will be coordination between canvassers
and instructors. Every station will count about 17 000 to 18 000
people. Each station will have 35 canvassers and each canvasser will
count 450 people on average," he added.

Foreign nationals will be counted with the help of embassies and
consulates.

"Those who have not been at home for more than a year will not be
counted. Information about people who have not been home for less
than a year will be updated on the knowledge of their neighbors and
acquaintances," said the Committee.

The census questionnaire contains 35 questions – 29 private questions
(about work, employment, etc.), and 6 about housing conditions.

The government has allocated AZN 8 million for the census.

After the 10-day census, census papers will be submitted to the State
Statistical Committee within a month as from the second half of May.

The data will be entered into the computer database and 10 booklets on
various regions of the country and 1 booklet on the entire country will
be published. The census process is slated for completion in mid-2010.

The Committee is unable to count how many people live in Azerbaijan’s
Nagorno Karabakh that is under illegal occupation of Armenia.

"So, in our census we will consider the number as equal to the
results of the 1989 census which counted 120 000 Azerbaijani-citizen
Armenians living in Nagorno Karabakh since it is impossible to specify
these data".

The population census is held every 10 years. According to the
latest official data by the State Statistics Committee, Azerbaijan’s
population reached 8.753 million as at April 1, 2009.