At the moment, there are conditions to administer the national census, but every individual has to abide by the health safety protocols, State Statistical Offce (SSO) head Apostol Simovski said Friday after a meeting with Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani and officials of the three largest religious communities in the country.
According to him, the Commission for Infectious Diseases has been monitoring coronavirus-related developments daily. “If the Commission recommends delaying the operation, we will respect it. We’ll never allow anyone to be at risk and us to be the reason for the spread of the virus,” Simovski told reporters when asked whether the State Statistical Office considered postponing the census after a rise in new COVID-19 infections has been registered.
Asked which is the country from where most of Macedonian expats and emigrants have registered in the census app, Simovski stated that the State Statistical Office has no such data, noting that the database would not be opened until the operation is over so as to increase the protection of census data bases.
Since the first census in the country after World War II in 1948, he stressed, people were free to declare their heritage and they still can. “There are no limitations as regards someone’s ethnic origin, including absurd answers.”
Information on the number of members in all ethnic communities will be publicly available electronically and in written form.
FM Osmani, speaking to reporters, said all sorts of ways were used to inform Macedonian emigrants no matter where they life through the diplomatic and consular offices.
“In coming days, I will visit European countries where in addition to meeting with my counterparts I plan to meet with officials of our diaspora to tell them that census is under way,” he said.
Our emigrants and expats abroad, he said, can be informed through social media and the Foreign Ministry has also opened helplines with the media also playing a key role in the process.
“This is a historic chance to get a clear picture of how many of us there are across the world and how to use the information toward further development of the country and to also help the diaspora,” Osmani added.
The Minister stated that the leaders of the religious communities had pledged that through their networks they will inform their faithful abroad and they would be sent flyers explaining the census procedure.
2021-03-05 14:36:17, from Bisera Altiparmakova
