Ukraine’s Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers Oleh Nemchinov has said that the all-Ukrainian population census will most likely not be held in 2021.
“The census must be carried out, but the census is an expensive pleasure. The budget request submitted by the State Statistics Service allots Hr 5.8 billion. We have the entire coronavirus stabilization fund of Hr 65 billion. This is a very serious political decision and this is a process that needs to be launched. For example, if we wanted to conduct a census in 2021, then in March 2020 we would have to start preparations,” Nemchinov said in an exclusive interview to Interfax-Ukraine.
To the clarifying question of whether the census will be carried out in 2021, the minister said probably not.
“I think not. You can try to do it at the end of the year, but then this year you need to start spending money at least from September to October. As the head of the State Statistics Service explained to me, it takes at least one year and three months to go through the whole cycle that is required,” he said.
According to Nemchinov, the State Statistics Service has outlined three scenarios: a version of the classic census, polls and a combined one.
“I’m more impressed with the combined one. Here we are talking about the fact that the maximum use of electronic media, the maximum use of digital technology will be combined with a checking every yard, with real things. But even a purely digital census is a very big undertaking,” he said.
As reported, in January 2020, ex-Cabinet Minister Dmytro Dubilet announced the data of the electronic census, according to which the population of Ukraine amounted to 37.289,000 people. (as of December 1, 2019). The counting system used for the trial census has been criticized.
