A complete census of the population and housing stock of Turkmenistan will take place from December 17 to 27, according to the March 28 issue of the Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper.
In a note dedicated to this event, it is noted that the questions in the census questionnaires will be from several modules, which include:
• demographic characteristics (gender, date of birth or age, marital status, number of children);
• economic characteristics (occupation, industry or type of economic activity, source of livelihood, earnings or income, position in occupation, degree of employment);
• Characteristics of education (school attendance, number of years of schooling or attained level of education, profession, qualifications);
• national characteristics (belonging to a particular people or national group, native language, as well as knowledge of other languages),
• other characteristics, including citizenship, housing conditions, etc.
The purpose of the census is to collect the most complete and up-to-date information about the population, to determine its structure.
“The state will take into account all this information when developing social programs and planning the budget,” the text emphasizes.
It is noted that the innovation will be the introduction of modern digital technologies. In particular, an automated system will be developed, and it is also planned to use portable devices for convenience and calculation of statistical data.
At a Cabinet meeting on February 11, the head of the State Statistics Committee, Silap Velbegov , announced a trial population census conducted between December 17–27, 2021 “through the use of digital technologies.”
The previous population census was conducted 10 years ago, in 2012, but its results were not made public.
According to information an HT source who received the results in 2015, 4,751,120 people lived in Turkmenistan in 2012. 2,418,115 or 50.9% of them are women, 2,332,005 or 49.1% are men.
By national composition, 85.6% are Turkmens, 5.8% are Uzbeks, and 5.1% are Russians. All others are listed as representatives of other nationalities.
The Turkmen authorities do not publish population data. In January 2020, on the official website (currently not working), dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the neutrality of Turkmenistan, without reference to the source , it was indicated that 6.2 million people live in the country.
Source: Chronicles of Turkmenistan