Albania government postpone population census

Tirana, 26 February 2011 (AENEWS) – Albania government decided to postpone the population and housing census by “several months” citing “technical problems”. The spokesperson of the Ministry of Innovation was quoted by local media saying that the “postponement is related to the fact that the municipality workers are currently busy dealing with the next local elections”.
The census was scheduled for the 1 April and will be postponed for October or November, according to the officials.

Albania organized its last census on population and living conditions on 2001, in order to correct the statistical mishmash caused by strong emigration, population displacement within the country and tens of thousands illegal homes constructed since the collapse of communism.

Under political pressure from EU, Albania accepted to add questions on religious adherence and ethnicity in 2011 census, which dismayed a part of the public opinion that are afraid that data collected on ethnicity based on self-declaration will fuel Greek nationalist territorial claims. During the last few weeks several protest against the census on ethnicity were organized.

Currently Albania uses civic registers to account ethnic minorities and by law ethnicity could not be changed on demand.

Greek minority organizations claim that the number of ethnic Greeks in the country was diluted over time by political and social pressure and that the right of self-declaration of ethnicity could resolve such historical problems.

Albanians claims that Greek Government uses its economic muscles to lure Albanians in changing their identity for Athens nationalist claims on Northern Epirus, a region that lives currently in South Albania.

The census 2011 is expected to cost about 15 million euro and is partly financed by the EU funds.

The census is expected to produce more reliable data on the size of the population in the country and the labor force, which is impossible to be calculated based on civic registers because of massive emigration.

http://www.albanianeconomy.com/news/2011/02/27/albania-government-postpone-population-census/