The census in Turkmenistan is taking place in an organized manner and on time, stated the UNFPA high-level expert mission on the preparation and conduct of the 2022 census in Turkmenistan, the Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper reports.
On 20 December 2022, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) mission in Turkmenistan organized a briefing for the national media on the outcomes of the expert mission. It was conducted by Srdjan Mrkic, Head of the Demographic Statistics Department of the UN Statistical Office (Head of Mission).
A high-level technical mission, which included heads of the UN global and regional levels, was invited by the UNFPA representative office in Turkmenistan and the State Committee of Turkmenistan on Statistics in order to assist the country in conducting a population and housing census in accordance with the UN principles and recommendations.
During the week from 16 to 20 December, experts got acquainted with the progress of the census.
They visited three municipal and three rural census sites, where they learned about the technical details and methods of conducting the census, quality control tools. Technical meetings of experts with specialists of the State Committee of Turkmenistan on Statistics were also held.
In general, the mission noted that the work is going according to plan. The population is informed about the goals and objectives of the census. The census takers are provided with uniforms, identification tags, and bags, which inspires confidence on the part of the population.
The Mission particularly notes that for the first time a complete census of the population and housing stock of Turkmenistan is being held in digital format, using locally produced tablets with installed software.
The UN is committed to supporting the Government in the processing and analysis of census data, as its results will serve as a reliable information base for the development of programs for the socio-economic development of the country, stressed the head of the mission Srdjan Mrkic.
On the same day, the experts of the UNFPA mission conducted a short training for journalists aimed at increasing the role of the media during the census. ///nCa, 21 December 2022