Census will help Albania’s EU integration, officials say

TIRANA, June 21 – The European Union has funded projects of up to 11.5 million euros to help Albania hold the 2011 Housing and Population Census that are believed to come out with generally reliable statistics.
The planned Housing and Population Census is to be carried out in 2011.
Authorities discussed last week the pilot census conducted in April-May 2010 by INSTAT with a view to address potential shortcomings.
Accurate and reliable statistics are essential tools for policies that are responsive to the needs of the country. Apart form being essential for good governance, statistics are also important to the EU integration process as they enable proper monitoring and evaluation of progress.
The EU is funding three projects in Albania amounting to 11.5 million Euros dedicated to improving the accuracy and reliability of statistics produced by the National and Regional Statistics Office, by harmonizing the methodologies employed by INSTAT to gather and process data. Alignment with EU standards in statistics will ultimately enable comparability between the EU, Albania and countries of the region.
Head of the EU Delegation to Albania Ambassador Helmuth Lohan noted that “The importance of statistics for informed policy-making and the implementation of policy objectives are intuitively obvious. Since Albania’s path towards the EU is also Albania’s path towards the funding instruments offered by the EU there is every reason to pay highest attention to availability of high-quality statistics”.