Cens 2023 needs integrity of the quality of the results

The sole purpose of the 2023 population and housing census in Albania is to take into account every member of the population and their assets. This approach if done according to the description of the methodology gives completely accurate results. However, due to the fact that a lot of data will be collected, the process foreseen in only 6 weeks will probably require more time and funds. Currently, the approved fund for the development of CENS 2023 is 16.9 million Euros. Based on the precedents of past registrations and experience from neighboring countries, additional funds can reach up to 30% more than this initial fund making the information process costly.

However, at the present moment, when concerns about cost and time have been exceeded, it remains to be discussed and considered how the whole process will respond to the many and various concerns related to the lack of and inaccuracy of statistical data. However, in this context, the Albanian government, through the national statistics office or INSTAT, has responded to these concerns with various methodological developments.

These include the use of new technologies and sampling in traditional recording. There has also been a shift from traditional census methods to greater use of registers, as was established in the Nordic countries, and to the combined use of registers and sample surveys.

According to INSTAT:

“The Census of Population and Housing provides data on the official population count in a country, in the smallest geographical unit, together with information on a selected number of demographic, social and economic characteristics of the population. Similarly, the Census of Housing provides the official count of all dwellings in the country in the smallest geographical unit, together with information on a selected number of housing characteristics.

Field work will last six weeks.

The innovations of Cens 2023 will be:

The use of electronic devices (tablets), which will replace paper questionnaires for the data collection process in the field;
Modernization of the Geographical Information System (GIS) – data collection, monitoring, analysis and distribution;
The census will serve as a basis for the conception and creation of statistical registers of the resident population“.[1]

Some of the important changes in CENS 2023 compared to 2011 and earlier is a new approach to data collection in contrast to the traditional one, i.e. face-to-face interviewing has been replaced by self-declaration and considering the existence of a register suitable addresses, filling out the form can now use technology. However, in general there is still a need for some fieldwork by surveyors for cases where such surrogate strategies may not be feasible. These possible deviations from the approved methodology should be covered with a backup scenario, as they may change the result during data processing.

What is the overall focus of the data collection from the CENS 2023 Questionnaire?

In answering this very important question, it is enough to look at the standard form to ascertain that from the information that will be received, the answers will clarify better than ever before regarding:

Buildings

– The current status of the use of the apartment (family, business or both together)
– The type of residence (identifies both the assets of citizens, but also those of the government itself and various organizations, including the properties of religious beliefs)
– The period of construction of the houses and their composition with the various interventions that the Albanian residents have made over the years, even damaging the integrity of the constructions
– Housing status where the level of fulfillment of the current market demand for new housing in the future will also be evidenced
– Exact addresses and their naming according to current use, helping in this case also the formalization for property tax purposes and further
– Ways of water supply, energy, heating and cooling system, hygienic and sanitary conditions together with waste discharges, a measurement at least for the first time after many constructions and movements in these last decades
– The status of housing ownership and investments in technology used by owners, which will also show the level of well-being of families by inventorying the equipment and technology used by Albanian families
– Information on land, identifying their types and use for agricultural and construction purposes (postponed to 2024)
– Livestock information and a clarification of biological assets (trees and animals) also serving government initiatives for relevant registers related to these topics (postponed to 2024)

Population

– Family composition, gender and family size
– Family ties and their status in relation to real estate ownership
– Age of the population and age distribution according to areas of the country
– Social status and level of relationships, helping municipalities to measure more accurate information about the needs of young families and other families
– The place of birth of Albanian citizens (citizenship), where information will also be collected about dual citizenships, receiving for the first time complete data about the country of birth, residence abroad, which affect the policies of the agreements addressed by the government regarding with the mutual demands between governments for their countrymen
– The nationality of the citizens, which also affects the accurate inventory of citizens regarding their rights to vote, to public services, as well as to more accurately orient the distribution of the budget according to age group
– Religious belief (optional) and ethnic identity, which clearly show the updated demography of religious beliefs, but also the nationality of resident citizens. These two points constitute a more reliable fact for the dialogue with foreigners regarding policies on minorities and the importance of covering them with services and guaranteeing their rights as Albanian citizens of foreign nationality.
– Reasons for migration of Albanians, length of stay, return of emigrants, which are valid to better orient policies to minimize this much-debated phenomenon
– Data on education of all levels, starting from the birth of the child, which is another appropriate information for correcting policies related to investments in the municipality, but also how to correct the policies for the education model
– Information on employment, employment rate, unemployment and employment status.
– Information on employment and engagement of businesses by industry, guaranteeing that economic policies correct their focus and become aware through statistics of the development of industries and needs for the future, coordinating them with the demands of business groups
– Information on primary health, which includes the health status for the main senses of the citizens, a moment that is probably considered the most complete information on how the life and development of society has been affected in these years.
– Other valuable information includes the use of the Internet, telephone and communication technology

But what might be the challenges in the six weeks of CENS 2023 data entry?

To begin with, censuses around the world have faced major challenges[2], including cost pressures, concerns about political interference, privacy and response burdens, reduced cooperation, difficulties in accessing housing occupied and vacant, counting unsafe areas, more complex living arrangements and time concerns.

If we discuss in a more in-depth analysis of the problems that the processes encountered in Albania in 2011, but also in the surrounding countries, extending the analysis to other European countries, a big risk, universally accepted, is that mistakes can happen and in fact occurred at all stages of the census operation, considered as errors in the coverage of the entire territory and population, but also errors in content[3].

But, wishing that such errors, as well as the lack of complete information from the current registers, the voluntariness of the population to answer the questionnaire, the methodology that must be correctly applied, as well as the continuous clarifications through publicity from all formats of communication must produce us at the approved time indisputable data and without any political nuance in them.

Demographic analysis has the advantage that no additional data is needed. Information available, additional staff may not be needed to perform technical analysis. The evaluation that will be done by the experts for the analysis of all the findings and the supervision of the process and errors we think helps to identify the operational phases that contribute to the registration error.

The great hope is that the demographic analysis will be proportionately dependent on previous census data, which may also be flawed. Therefore, if carefully planned the cooperation of different types of experts involved in the preparation, implementation, processing and publication of the population and housing census is very important for the quality of the census results.

[1] https://www.instat.gov.al/al/cens-2023/rreth-cens/%C3%A7far%C3%AB-%C3%ABsht%C3%AB-censi/

[2] https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/144876052.pdf

[3] Coverage errors are errors that arise due to omissions or duplications of persons or housing units in the census record.

Content errors are errors that arise from inaccurate reporting or recording of characteristics of persons, households, and housing units enumerated in the census.