The census starts on the first of October, during which the employees of the Central Statistical Office and trained enumerators collect data on how many people live in the settlements of our country. This year, the questionnaire will also include important topical questions - this is what Marcell Kovács, project manager of the 2022 census, told hirado.hu:
"The census is the only population data collection in which participation is mandatory, it is required by law in accordance with EU regulations. It is important to know that this is not the case only in Hungary. It is necessary to prepare a questionnaire for everyone, because the census is effective if it gives an accurate picture of the population of our country, both nationally and at the level of settlements. And for this, it is essential that no one is left out. The results of the census will be used by many people, decision-makers, market players, and researchers, because the results provide accurate information about local supply and service needs.
Moreover, in the following years, the development support programs will be planned based on the results of the census. Companies also decide on a new investment based on this data.
The basic purpose of the census is to determine how many people live in Hungary, how many live in individual villages and towns. But it's about much more than that. Although the content of the questionnaire varies little from census to census, EU legislation also determines which questions must be asked in each country, but there are always current topics. This year is the first time that we do not use paper forms, but electronic questionnaires, which make it more convenient and faster to fill them out. In terms of content, the census provides a high-resolution, detailed snapshot of the most important characteristics of society. This includes housing conditions, education, language skills, occupation, whether someone works locally or commutes, how they get around. The data shows our family relationships, the size of the apartments, the number of families and singles.
Data on housing conditions have now become particularly important from the point of view of energy efficiency.
From the census data, it will be possible to see what the masonry of the apartments is like, what heating options are available. All of this will be important information for planning home improvement programs.
Moreover, this question is supplemented by a new question concerning energy-efficient devices, which shows how many people use energy-saving devices such as solar panels or solar collectors. The other new topic is digital skills and internet use, as this is now essential for navigating the world and gaining a foothold in the labor market. Hungarian censuses have a history of more than 150 years, in the beginning there was also the question of whether the informant can read and write, it can be said that the modern equivalent of this historical question is how proficient someone is in using digital devices.
At the end of September, we will inform the population by letter, each household will receive an envelope labeled census. It is important to keep this letter because it contains the access code that everyone will use from October 1-16. between you can fill it out independently on the online interface.
It will be possible to enter the Néptellálás2022.hu website with the code and fill out an apartment questionnaire and as many personal questionnaires as there are people living in the apartment. We used to say that every ten years we ask the population for half an hour, that's how long it takes an average two-person household to fill out the questionnaires. A raffle also accompanies this period, we draw lots among the respondents daily. At the last census, in 2011, 20 percent of the population filled out the questionnaire online, this year we expect more.
On October 16, the online filling-in phase will end, after which enumerators will visit the addresses from which no questionnaires were received.
By the way, electronic data collection speeds up the processing process and is also very secure in terms of data protection. When the questionnaire is closed, the data is transferred to the KSH's protected server, there is no need to deliver or scan paper questionnaires. Even so, it is a huge data set, the processing of which is a serious task. The statistical office has significant professional experience in mass data processing, but a census is a special task. We plan to publish the first results next spring."
Source: hirado.hu
Featured image: KSH
