Russian census embraces 93 per cent of population

Moscow, 23 October: The population of Russia showed the presence of civic responsibility during the national census that lasted from 9 to 21 October,

Vladimir Sokolin, deputy chairman of Russia's State Statistics Committee, said on Wednesday [23 October] as he summed up the early results of the nationwide effort to make a count of the people living on Russian territory.

A sociological poll suggests that 93 per cent of the population has taken part in the census, Sokolin said.

He believes that the federal law "On censuses" should be amended with a view to making participation in censuses mandatory for all people living in the country...

All the data the census-takers gathered during the campaign will require serious processing, and exact data on the country's population is unlikely to appear earlier than the spring of 2003, he said.

Manipulations with the data will be impossible, and nobody will be able to acquire the databases with the names of, and personal information on, people at whatever markets, Sokolin said in a bid to dispel certain popular rumours and media assertions on the issue.

The census in Chechnya was undisturbed enough, he said, confirming at the same time there had been instances of some procedural violations, when the officials filled out the registration forms with pencils.

Those instances were single, though, and the government acted tough to eradicate them, Sokolin noted.

The processed results of the census will certainly confirm there has been no demographic explosion in the country, as the mortality rate is generally high, the birth rate is low and the population is getting older, he indicated.

The government expended R5.1bn from Russia's federal budget for the census, Sokolin said. He is expected to report on the early results of the campaign at a meeting of the cabinet of ministers on 14 November.