BTW so many people filled in their nationalities as hobbits or elves in the census, not to mention Sumerians and Papuans, that the technically qualify for ethnic minority status. There also seem to be Zulus in Siberia.
Vremya MN No. 209 November 2002 [translation from RIA Novosti for personal use only] CAN WE TRUST THE RESULTS OF THE RECENT CENSUS? The statisticians are being accused of presenting incorrect data and understating the results of the recent census. How fair are those accusations? Sergei KOLESNIKOV, state secretary, deputy chairman of the Russian State Statistics Committee answers the questions posed by Alexandra SAMARINA, Vremya MN correspondent.
Question: Some politicians accuse your committee of "losing" more than 2 million people in your statistical data. It's a very serious miscalculation. Is there any reason why we should trust those estimations?
Answer: The results of the census published by mass media today are simply preliminary estimates in some regions and absolutely rough data nation-wise. Inquiry schedules from all parts of the country will be still coming to the territorial bureaus of the State Statistics Committee until November 30, 2002. Later on, they are going to be processed automatically. It's worth to mention that according to preliminary estimates, the figures are not lower, but higher than the official registration data. That is to say, if the official statistics show the Russian population to be 143.3 million people as of early October, 2002, the new results might give us additional 2 million people. However, I have to reiterate - those are just preliminary estimates, which are not based on real count of census schedules. We are going to have trustworthy data on the overall population, its distribution among rural and urban areas, gender ratio, etc., only in the first quarter of next year.
Question: Some sources claim that in Moscow less than 60 percent of the population participated in the census. Even Moscow authorities admit that the results are miserable.
Answer: City officials have calculated the population of Moscow to be approximately ten and a half million people. The current registration data shows a smaller number. We believe that the figure given by the authorities is closer to reality and the present population is a bit larger than officially registered. The claims that only 56 percent took the census are absurd because in that case the Moscow government wouldn't have come up with ten and a half million figure. The fact that they announced this number means that at least the majority of the population participated in the census.
Question: Have the Russian government discussed the results of the census?
Answer: We informed the government about the results of the census on November 14. The census work done by executive authorities and institutions of local governing received positive evaluation. At the same time, we should learn certain lessons from this experience. For instance, both the legislative measures supporting the census process and the current registration system have to be improved in the future.