The data collected by Citizens.al through an online questionnaire show that the 'delay' in the publication of the preliminary results of the Census negatively affected citizens' trust in the data of the National Population and Housing Census; however, INSTAT insists that other countries publish them even later.
Erisa Kryeziu
On June 28, National Institute of Statistics (INSTAT) made public the preliminary data of the National Population and Housing Census, whose data show that the resident population in September 2023 was 2.4 million inhabitants.
However, the opinions gathered by Citizens.al through a online surveys after the publication of the results, they show that not all Albanian citizens have faith in the published figures, due to the delay in making them public.
The researchers point out that the lack of trust in the Censit data reflects the overall lack of trust in public institutions in Albania.
"This comes from our culture of mistrust, a big problem we have is that by not trusting public institutions, we somehow create an environment that makes communication very difficult", explained Blendi Çeka, lecturer at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Tirana.
"The credibility of the census process, on all sides, is much more important than the result itself,"- he added.
In a written response INSTAT rejected the claim that the figures were published late, stressing that their announcement 6 months after the process is a standard procedure.
"The publication of the Census results six months after the end of the field processes (data collection, and the post-Census survey) are the closest deadlines for the publication of the Census data according to international standards,INSTAT said to Citizens.al.
The Institute emphasized that it was satisfied with the participation of the population in the Census, estimating that it had covered 97,8 percent of families. However, some citizens who did not participate in the survey told Citizens that they had rejected it because of dissatisfaction with the quality of governance. Others pointed out that they had not been counted even though they had been enthusiastic about the process.
Lack of trust in institutions
In September 2023, according to INSTAT 5,240 enumerators, 1048 inspectors and 450 supervisors and IT workers were engaged throughout the republic to count population and housing.
The census started on September 18 and was supposed to last for 6 weeks, concluding at the end of October, but this time was insufficient, causing the process to last until November 15, 2023.
According to INSTAT, the reasons for the postponement of the deadlines were re-contacting more than three times in contactless apartments, as well as refusals or long distances. Other reasons that motivated the postponement of the deadline were new constructions and those affected by the 2019 earthquake.
More than half of the citizens (51,5%) asked by Citizens.al through an online questionnaire stated that the results of the Census are 'not at all' or 'little reliable'. This is as a result of the results being released late.
According to the researcher Blendi Čeka, even though it was possible that some key figures were made public a month after the process ended, this would not constitute a guarantee that they would increase the confidence of the citizens.
"I have the impression that since the figures themselves, e.g. just the population figure if we were to say that the population of Albania is 2.4 million, not detailed below at the district level, at the gender level, at the age level, at the municipal level, I have the impression that it would create some kind of problem in the public discourse , because it would be a dry number that would not show anything",- said Cheka.
He emphasized that the methodology of the Census questionnaire is standard, but what remains for the institutions is to raise credibility.
"We are a country that does not believe in institutions, whatever they may be," said Čeka. "Experience has also shown that it is more and more difficult for public institutions to build trust and it is the great responsibility of INSTAT to build this trust because it has to do with national data", he added.
It is impossible to count all the citizens
Through an online survey, Citizens.al asked citizens if they had become part of this process and how satisfied they were. 163 citizens answered the questionnaire from 12 regions of the country. 70.6% of them stated that they had been counted, while 29.4% of them had not become part of the Census.
Manuela Guri, resident of neighborhood no. 17 in Durrës told Citizens.al that he was looking forward to being part of the registration process, but the pollsters never knocked on his door.
"I had a lot of trouble that we didn't manage to register in this last census because it's very strange to be born in this city, live and not come to register you",she said.
According to Guri, her apartment is at the entrance of the coastal city, near the train station, very easy to see and visit. Like her, the residents of the entrance of her palace have not become part of the process. While confessing that the building where they live was affected by the earthquake, they returned there in September 2023, when the process has just started.
For Ledion Salillari in Korça, the registration process went smoothly, while he emphasizes that it was "very fast and easy".
"The surveyors came, the questions were clear, simple, the time was relatively, neither long nor short, enough time",- said Salillari.
Not all citizens share Ledion's enthusiasm for the Census and some have even refused to participate even though such an act is punishable by a fine.
Juson Kora, a resident of Berat, refused to be part of the Population and Housing Census in protest of the delays in the process of legalizing informal housing. According to him, as long as the state does not recognize his residence, he feels illegal in his home.
"I live in my illegal house," - he complained, while emphasizing that since 2006 it has been in the process of legalization. "Does a car get insurance if a car is deregistered,"– asked Kora.
In a response to Citizens.al, INSTAT stated that the coverage of the population was at a very high percentage, being considered a good coverage especially for a traditional Census like that of Population and Housing.
"The results of the PostCensus Survey assessed a population coverage rate of the 2023 Population and Housing Census in Albania, of 96.9 percent. The coverage rate of HEU [Family economic unit] was estimated at 97,8 percent",- said INSTAT.
According to Blendi Čeka, the number of those who did not participate is not significant to distort the results and the general picture of the Census.
"It seems to me that there has been a lot of attention on registration and to control the process and to have numbers because it has been a political debate about the issue of numbers,"- said Čeka, while warning that it will take several months to see the quality of the data.
"If there are serious problems they will definitely be identified,"- he emphasized.
More practice for surveyors
The total cost for the Population and Housing Census was 16.9 million euros, or 5.7 euros per inhabitant. Of this amount, 55.6% of the value was covered by the state budget, 28.4% by the European Union, 9.4% by the Swedish Development Agency (SIDA), 4.3% by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and 2.6% by other donors. .
For Enriketa Zeqon, a history teacher in Berat, this Census was the third one she has engaged with, after those of 2001 and 2011. She assessed the training of new pollsters as insufficient.
"We dealt more with theory, not that it was not done, it was done, but for what is a beginner, the practical side was insufficient,"- she said, while adding that "More emphasis was placed on the theoretical side."
"Practice is the best thing because you combine theory with practice,"- emphasized Enriketa, while adding that the process of selecting pollsters should be better.
Otherwise, Raimona Qendro was engaged as a surveyor in the population census for the first time. She was involved at the last moment as a surveyor in the city of Tirana.
"I didn't get the job by selection,"she explained. "A friend of mine was missing and I replaced her for a couple of days", - Ramona added.
"Then she was completely absent and I was left as a position", she concluded.
Erisa Kryeziu has completed higher studies in Journalism and Communication and Master of Science in Public Relations at the University of Tirana. She has been a journalist and project manager at Citizens.al for five years, where she reports on social issues and human rights, especially on issues of rights at work, in education, gender equality, marginalized groups, people with disabilities such as and for environmental issues. At the same time, she works as a project coordinator with a focus on youth and media education. User of new reporting techniques such as "Mobile Journalism" and citizen engagement tools in reporting (ECR-Engage Citizens Journalism).
