The Director of the State Statistical Office, Apostol Simovski, today participated in a panel discussion on "How can the (Census) be (mis) used?" organized by the Association of Citizens "Civil" - Center for Freedom.
During the discussion, the director Simovski answered questions related to the 2021 Census, regarding the procedure for conducting the Census and the necessity for this complex statistical operation.
Director Simovski, emphasizing that the Census is a statistical, complex operation and that there can be no political connotation, once again participated in the explanation of the categories of the population that will be enumerated, in accordance with the published methodology.
He clarified that the Census 2021, in accordance with the recommendations of the United Nations and the Eurostat definitions, will provide an answer, ie data, for certain categories of persons: resident population living in North Macedonia and non-resident population, ie citizens of North Macedonia who reside abroad more than 12 months, ie one year, as well as the members of their households if they stay with them.
"With the publication of the Methodology, most questions regarding the categories of the population to be enumerated have already been clarified. The inclusion in the Census of our citizens, who have been abroad for more than a year, is of great importance because we consider that we need to know what that number is, what is their structure on all grounds, educational, age, gender, working ability, which are their periods of emigration, from which part of the state, etc. ", underlined Simovski, adding that the Census is an attempt to get a figure for these citizens, in order to create quality policies which will help in bringing back as many of these people as possible.
Simovski pointed out that the upcoming Census in our country provides basic data on economic and social development planning and provides data needed for the business sector, local self-government for quality management and all other institutions.
"In the labor market base there is a huge shortage of trained labor force and potential and this figure will give a basic picture of the characteristics of people in terms of age, economic, educational, cultural background, which live abroad and for which conditions can be created with a quality planned state policy for returning in North Macedonia ", assessed Simovski.
Answering the question about the right to declare in the ethnicity column, Simovski clarified that every citizen has the right to enumerate according to his personal conviction, regardless of the constitutionally prescribed categories of members of ethnic communities.
Regarding the possible postponement of the Census, Simovski explained that there is no possibility for that due to the time period of the Census, which is regulated by the Census Law, but also due to the necessary need to finally, after more than 18 years, obtain quality data, which the state needs for its successful development.
At the same time, he added that the State Statistical Office is staffed and technologically prepared to carry out this complex operation, which has been expected for almost two decades.
In the „Civil“ debate on "How can the Census be (mis) used?" It was ascertained that the turnout of the citizens at the Census in April is generally useful for each citizen individually, and the non-participation in the Census does not bring benefits but disadvantages, in terms of obtaining the highest quality answers for planning the economic and development future of the citizens of North Macedonia.
At the panel discussion, led by the journalist Zoran Ivanov, which included topics related to the significance of the Census for the economy and the business community, as well as for the smaller ethnic communities in the state, participated and the Mayor of the City of Skopje, Petre Shilegov and Dehran Muratov, journalist and coordinator in "Civil".
