Armenian Readies Delayed Census For October

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian's government announced that census-taking will take place from October 13 to October 22. (file photo)

Armenian authorities say that in October they will conduct the Caucasus nation's first census in more than a decade and only its third since post-Soviet independence, following two postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Questionnaires will be filled out electronically for the first time.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian's government announced that census-taking will take place from October 13 to October 22, with its results to be summarized within a year.

Authorities plan to spend about 1.5 billion drams ($3.7 million) on the census, and the enumeration will include visits to households and other means of data collection.

Armenia took its previous two population censuses in 2001 and 2011. It planned to conduct its third population census in 2020, but had to postpone it first until 2021 and then until 2022 because of the pandemic.

“Electronic questionnaires will be filled in with the use of tablets. This is new for us," Vardan Gevorkian, the head of the population census department of Armenia’s Statistics Committee, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.

Answering questions during a population census in Armenia is mandatory under the law.

Citizens will be asked a total of 39 questions, including about their marital status, education, occupation, health, housing conditions, their main sources of income, and so on.

The census will also include questions about the availability of a second citizenship and the place of permanent residence of absent family members.

According to the 2011 population census, Armenia had a population of a little more than 3 million people, down by around 200,000 people from the results of 10 years previously.