Census in 2011

TIRANA, Feb. 15 – Albania, which has a population of around 3.2 million, will hold a fresh census in 2011.
“Only a small percentage of 700,000 Albanians living abroad return to cast their vote during elections. The same will happen with the census. Only a small percentage of them may return for the census,” Albanian State Minister Genc Pollo said in a newspaper interview.
Prime Minister Sali Berisha caused a stir recently when he said the upcoming 2011 census should record citizens’ ethnicity, religious affiliation and mother tongue.
Collecting the information would provide data about the country’s minority groups, which have not been officially counted since 1989.
Many personalities and also non-governmental organizations fear that the census asking for the ethnicity and also religious affiliation may be exploited mainly from Greece which shelters a high number of Albanian immigrants, who may be obliged to consider themselves as Greek.
The last census was conducted in April 2001 with its 1989 predecessor held at the end of the communist regime.