The European Union has granted €4.8 million ($5.16 million) in funding to the population and housing census to be conducted by the Albanian.

The EU ambassador in Albania said the population and housing census which would be conducted by the Albanian National Institute of Statistics’ (INSTAT) in the country is “important in the context of negotiations for Albania’s EU membership.”

“EU policies are based on reliable, comprehensive and comparative data,” Luigi Soreca said.

The grant’s objectives include providing expertise, capacity building and financial support for census management and organisation.

Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama said that “the conditions are ripe to start a process of such importance and to do it according to the European standards.”
“A trained team of 7,500 people would collect the data nationwide,” INSTAT’s general director Elsa Dhuli said.

The census would start on September 18.

According to INSTAT’s director, the census, the 12th such exercise in Albania would cost around €16 million.

The first results are scheduled to be published in late June 2024.

The census, originally scheduled for 2021, was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The previous census was held in 2011.

(Xinhua/NAN).