First stage of population and housing census started on Tuesday

The first stage of the population and housing census, which consists of collecting data from administrative sources, creating the census database, and uploading the first data in it, started on this Tuesday to end on March 13, according to a press release issued by the National Institute of Statistics (INS).For the population and housing census, the data collection and processing stages will be fully computerized.Moreover, for the first time in Romanian statistics, the citizens will have the possibility to fill in their own data, according to the abovementioned press release.The data can be filled in online, on any smartphone, tablet, laptop, or computer.The questionnaire will be available in Romanian and in the languages of national minorities, as well as in English.The other method of collecting the census the data is by interview, conducted by a census taker, with the recording of data on tablets.During the census, the National Institute of Statistics (INS) will benefit from the technical and operational support of the Special Telecommunications Service (STS), which will be involved in the proper functioning of the entire census data collection process.The second stage of the census will be only for census data provided by citizens in an electronic format and will take place between March 14 and May 15.The third stage of the census consists of the collection of data by the census takers, through face-to-face interviews, in which the collected data will be recorded, with the help of tablets, in the electronic questionnaire. This stage will take place between May 16 and July 17.According to the INS, the information collected will be processed according to the in-force laws on personal data protection (EU Regulation No. 679/2016) and anonymized immediately after entering the system.The population and housing census has started last year in all EU Member States, according to the (EC) Regulation No. 763/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the population and housing census and the corresponding implementing regulations.In Romania, the Population and Housing Census will be carried out according to the provisions of the Government Emergency Ordinance No. 19/2020 on the organization and conduct of the population and housing census in Romania in 2021, approved with modifications and additions by Law No. 178/2020, with subsequent modifications and additions.