NEWS INFO

Foreigners to participate in Hungary’s census

Foreigners or expats who have been in Hungary for longer than three months are obliged by law to participate in Hungary's census this month - which began on the 1st and continues until the end of October 2011. Responses to questions about nationality, ethnicity, mother tongue, religion, long-lasting illness, and disability are all voluntary. Read on for more official details, and how to answer online.

Population censuses in today’s sense of the word have been held in Hungary since 1869, the one to this year will be the 15th so far.

Every natural person in the area of Hungary will be counted. This includes all Hungarian citizens living in the area of the country or staying temporarily abroad but having a registered place of residence or a place of stay in Hungary. All foreign citizens and stateless persons living in the area of the country for a period of more than 3 months are also included.

As the official denomination of the census is “population and housing census”, all dwellings, occupied holiday homes and other housing units in the area of the country will be enumerated in the census. Community institutions providing night accommodation will be also included, referred to as “institutions”.
In the history of population censuses in Hungary this is the first time when questionnaires can be completed on-line but the traditional way of supplying data is be also available. Enumerators delivered an identification code to every household in the first days of the census.

For those who do not wish to answer the questions in the presence of an enumerator an internet gateway will be open until 16th October through which they can fill out the questionnaires by themselves and their family members after signing in by using the identification code.
To answer questionnaires takes 25–30 minutes per household on average. During the population census some 5 million addresses are expected to be assigned to enumeration districts. The data collection will be made by more than 37 thousand enumerators.

Preliminary results of the population census are going to be published by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office from March 2012, while detailed data are expected to be released from the end of 2012.

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