Turkmenistan launches population and housing census

Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, Dec. 15 /Trend H. Hasanov/ Turkmenistan has launched Census of Population and Housing, which will be held until December 26, an official Turkmen source said on Saturday. Currently mobile subscribers are sent text messages reminding them of the important event. A telephone hotline is organized in Ashgabat and other regions The main phase of the census will take place as part of the UN initiative on holding a census in UN member states in 2005 - 2014. The State Statistical Committee of the country said that there has been a very big change in the composition and size of the population since the last census (1995). Results of the Census will provide an opportunity to obtain a wide range of indicators characterizing the distribution of population by urban and rural areas, marital and family status, ethnic composition, degree of language proficiency, the number and size of households, sources of livelihood, housing, and so on. Population census will be conducted on the basis of developed for the purpose of forms and questionnaires. Each form includes questions intended for the entire population. Questionnaire - the basic document of census of the population - includes a number of questions which involve obtaining information about persons permanently or ordinarily resident in the room. The census program also contains information about the accommodation unit - type, period of construction, the material from which the walls are made, the common and living space, landscaping and other types of housing characteristics. Important basic characteristics of the population are collected based on the survey of people living in the area: the date of birth, gender, nationality, citizenship, marital status, and so on. Specially trained staff will fill the questionnaires going to residential and other buildings. The information they receive will not be from the documents, but from the words of the people polled (without presenting any documents). The Turkmen State Statistics Committee will use GIS technology (Geographic Information System) implemented in international practice to provide work with cartographic materials in electronic form and place necessary statistical information on an electronic map. Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at agency@trend.az