1. Census 2021 in the Republic of Serbia
Snezana Lakčević
TCG meeting
Ljubljana, February 2019

2. The 2021 Census 2021 Census in Serbia Traditional census using laptops
Field realization: 1-30 April 2021
Reference date: 31 March 2021
Pilot census: April 2019 (CAWI and CAPI)
The main aims: modernization and cost efficiency
meet the users’ demands

3. The 2021 Census – Organizational structure
Census commissions in municipalities and cities (162)
Regional coordinators (heads of regional departments)
Municipal coordinators (about 260 persons, statisticians and associates)
Instructors (about 2.200) and enumerators (around )
IT support(IT staff in regional departments and in municipalities)

4. 2011 Census 2021 Census Enumerators 36.559 15.000 Instructors 4.471
2.200
Trainings
3-days
5-days
Period of enumeration
15 days (additional 3-5 days in large cities)
30 days
Printed material
300t of paper, filled 12 mil. basic census questionnaires
Electronic questionnaires(paper only in exceptional situations); printing guidelines
Data entry and processing
Around 8 months, 600 persons
Automatic data entry, use of administrative registers for imputations
Final results– the first book
12 months after the census
4-6 months

5. The 2021 Census – Direct participants on the field
Municipal coordinators
Instructors
Enumerators
required number
candidates on the training
number of trainings
points for training
(2-3 terms)
Belgrade 49
488
549 18 13
3414
3841
124 47
Valjevo 7 52 61 2
365
411 8
Zajecar 11 80 91 3
561
631 22
Kragujevac 19
154
177 6 5
1081
1217 42 20
Kraljevo
175
199
1227
1380 45
Leskovac
142
166
904
1017 36
Nis 21
170
194
1188
1336 44
Novi Pazar 43 1
303
341
Smederevo
122
138
851
957 32 16
Uzice 12 87
100
610
686 23
Sabac 89
101
621
699 25
Zrenjanin 78
617
Novi Sad
201
229
1407
1583 54
Pancevo 85 96
594
668 24
S.Mitrovica 90
102
628
706 9
Subotica
107
121 4
751
844 29
Total - rough
260
2.200
2.500
65-70
15.000
17.000
600
IT staff (training and support during the fieldwork) 40
200

6. Census Law Draft Census Law has been prepared together with:
Explanation with all following documentation
State of compliance with EU regulations
Following:
Public discussion
Opinion of the ministries
Adoption on the Government
Working group for legal and financial issues
Expected to be adopted in the Assembly by the end of 2019

7. Financing
Programming IPA 2018 N which contains four components (value nearly 30 million euros)
Population Census is the largest
last 36 months
starts in the second quarter of 2019
Partly financing - from the budget of the Republic of Serbia:
technical equipment (around 8 million euros)
of laptops
November 2019 – signed the legal basis preceding the signing of a financial agreement

8. GIS GIS application for creating electronic
maps of EAs and collecting spatial data
Linkage of geospatial and enumeration data up to the level of house number (coordinates)
Prerequisite for production of census data
geo-referenced to the 1 km2

9. The main challenges Innovations inevitable becomes standard practice
Select the personnel for census fieldwork
Provide financial and human resources
Select and provide the appropriate technology
Ensure complete coverage of all census units
Establish system of managing risks in all census phases
Ensure the confidentiality of census data
Maintain the integrity of the existing statistical system
Innovations inevitable becomes standard practice
We can’t do today’s job with yesterday’s methods and to expect to find ourselves in the same place tomorrow.

10. State-of-play
Updating spatial data as part of preparation of the 2019 Pilot Census
- fieldwork until end of February
- 38 persons on the field
Selection and training of instructors for the Pilot
- 25 instructors + 5 as reserve
- training (last week in February)
Selection and training of the enumerators for the Pilot
- 85 enumerators
- trainings on 3 points
Preparation of methodological and organizational guidelines (proofreading, editing and printing)
Development of IT tools and infrastructure
Setting up the basic concepts and elements of a communication campaign

11. Computer Assisted Web Interview - CAWI
Conducting only in three largest cities
(Belgrade, Novi Sad and Nis)
Prepared application with all validation rules
Tested questionnaires on the focus groups (6 groups of persons)
Prepared accompanying letters and entrance code for completing on line questionnaires
Realization: 1-7 April 2019
Verification code after successful enumeration

12. CAWI - challenges Monitoring coverage
Quality of administrative registers (primarily the Address register)
Connecting data (CAWI + CAPI)
Additional costs (enumerator has to check each address regardless self- enumeration)

13. Preparation of the Road map
Beyond the 2021 Census
Establishing the Statistical Population Register
Updating from available administrative databases
Framework for conducting other statistical surveys
Simulation of the register-based census after the completion of the 2021 Census
Preparation of the Road map
Proposing targets and necessary steps for development capacities of all relevant bodies
Discussing the possibilities, roles and responsibilities of the relevant institutions
Organizing national workshops
Action plan
for introduction of the register-based census in Serbia

14. Thank you for your attention!