The pilot Census of PHC 2011 starts at midnight
According to Statistics Estonia, the pilot Census of the 2011 Population and Housing Census (PHC 2011) will take place in nine local governments of Estonia starting from today midnight to the end of March.
Today at midnight the pilot Census of PHC 2011 will begin in the form of e-census, which allows the people residing in the pilot Census areas to enumerate themselves on the Internet during one and a half month. “It is crucial that the residents of the Census areas would participate in e-census where possible, because this is the first paperless census during the 130 years of the history of Estonian censuses and it needs to be properly tested before the 2011 Population and Housing Census,” said Diana Beltadze, the Project Manager of PHC 2011 of Statistics Estonia. Starting from midnight it is possible to participate in the e-census by using the electronic data collection environment eSTAT of Statistics Estonia (https://estat.stat.ee/).
The pilot Census of PHC 2011 lasts for three months and will be carried out in two parts: e-census (from 31 December 2009 to 21 February 2010) and face-to-face interviews (from 5 to 31 March 2010), where enumerators will visit those households who did not participate in e-census or whose questionnaires were incomplete.
According to Diana Beltadze the pilot Census will ensure that the 2011 Population and Housing Census would be conducted without failure. Therefore the data collected in the course of the pilot Census and people’s feedback will be thoroughly analysed and in case of need the census process will be changed or revised. The success of the 2011 Population and Housing Census depends to a great extent on the pilot Census and on the feedback provided by its participants.
In the course of the pilot Census of PHC 2011 conducted from 31 December 2009 to 31 March 2010 over 10,000 persons and their dwellings will be enumerated. Different regions and settlement units all over Estonia have been selected for the pilot Census in order to test thoroughly the organization and information systems of the census. The pilot Census will be carried out in Tallinn, Narva, Püssi, Pärnu-Jaagupi, Paide, Aravete, and in Rae, Rõuge and Viimsi rural municipalities (detailed information about the pilot Census regions see www.stat.ee/39049, www.stat.ee/rel2011).
The aim of the 2011 Population and Housing Census (PHC 2011) is to provide the public, research institutions, local governments, state agencies and enterprises and international organisations with quality information about the size, composition and location of the population, about migration, dwellings and living conditions, as well as to present basic data for future official statistical surveys.
In 2011 the Census will be conducted for the eleventh time on the territory of Estonia. The previous censuses were carried out in 1881, 1897, 1922, 1934, 1941, 1959, 1970, 1979, 1989 and 2000. In 2010 and 2011 Population and Housing Censuses will be held in the majority of countries all over the world.
The video demo of the e-census