Preparations for the Population and Housing Census and the General Agricultural Census, 2020 Global Round, as well as measures to improve the demographic situation in Moldova were discussed on Tuesday, 10th of April, at a meeting between the Prime Minister, Pavel Filip and UNFPA Representative in Moldova, Rita Columbia.

Prime Minister, Pavel Filip, highlighted the importance of conducting a well – organised and accurate census as to serve the basis for developing quality policy documents. As such, Prime Minister asked relevant authorities to start the preparations for census, trace and initiate necessary actions, including identifying technical solutions, training involved staff and conducting the census.

UNFPA Representative, Rita Columbia, emphasized the need to follow UN global census recommendations in all phases of census, to obtain the most reliable data. Rita Columbia mentioned the need to develop collaborative relationships with external partners and reiterated UNFPA support for the preparation and conducting the censuses.

During the meeting, other technical aspects of organising the censuses were discussed, focused on the modality of data collection. This may include data collection using mobile devices, computer-assisted web interviewing and administrative data.

„There are many benefits for using the internet – it is safer and the data will be processed more quickly and used for efficient planning”, the Premier said. Regarding the timeline, the authorities examined the opportunity to carry out the Household and Population Census in 2021, followed shortly by the General Agricultural Census.

Other topics of the discussion refered to the demographic trends in Moldova and ongoing challenges such as decreasing fertility rates, low life expectancy, population ageing and migration.