Romanian Statistics Office sets 35% target for online census

Romania's statistics office INS expects at least 35% of households to complete the online population and housing self-census procedure by the May 15 deadline, head of the institute Tudorel Andrei said.

Until March 28, a number of 1.5 mln questionnaires were fully completed and validated in the systemout of the 1.8 mln questionnaires initiated by households. The failure ratio was some 10%, which INS head Andrei said is "acceptable".

"I'm optimistic, even if this is the first action of this magnitude," the INS head said at a press conference, local Agerpres reported.

Yet he stressed that granting the day off to those participating in the online census depends on the validation of the data.

The online self-census ratio in other European countries ranged from 30.3% in Bulgaria to 99.3% in Portugal, he added.

Obtaining funding from the European Union may be at stake, as the disbursement of some funds is proportional to the number of residents.

The process was open to the public on March 14. After May 15, representatives of the statistics office will visit those who failed to complete online the procedure until July 17.

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea)