Population census to begin in Hungary

The population census in Hungary is going to be held between October 1st and 31st 2011. Population censuses in today’s sense of the word have been held in Hungary since 1869, the one to be held this year will be the 15th of them.

Every natural person in the territory of Hungary will be counted. This definition covers all Hungarian citizens living in the area of the country or staying temporarily abroad but having a registered place of residence or a place of stay in Hungary. All foreign citizens and stateless persons living in the area of the country for a period of more than 3 months are also included. As the official denomination of the census is “population and housing census”, all dwellings, occupied holiday homes and other housing units in the area of the country will be enumerated. Community institutions providing night accommodation will be also included, referred to as “institutions”.

In the history of population censuses in Hungary, this is the first time when questionnaires can be completed on-line but the traditional way of supplying data will also be available. Enumerators have already delivered an identification code to every household. For those who do not wish to answer the questions in the presence of an enumerator, an internet gateway will be open until October 16th, through which they can fill out the questionnaires by themselves and their family members after signing in by using the identification code. Answering questionnaires takes 25–30 minutes per household on average.

The Hungarian Central Statistical Office made three years of very complex efforts to organise and prepare the census, as a part of which it carried out a total of three pilot censuses. During the population census, some 5 million addresses are expected to be assigned to enumeration districts. The data collection will be made by more than 37 thousand enumerators.

Preliminary results of the population census are going to be published by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office from March 2012, while detailed data are expected to be released from the end of 2012.