Kosovo doing 1st census in years

PRISTINA, Kosovo — Kosovo’s government on Friday began its first nationwide census since 2011, which will include surveying the ethnic Serb minority in the north, at a time when tensions with neighboring Serbia are high.

The Agency of Statistics is conducting the census, originally set to take place in 2021 but postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Some 4,400 surveyors will interview residents in person from April 5 until May 17 to cover demographic and socioeconomic indicators that “will take Kosovo a step ahead toward integration into the European Union,” according to the agency’s website.

The Kosovar government, the EU’s statistical office, Eurostat, UN organizations, and the World Bank are funding the census which will tally the number of people residing in the country, family households, their education, and employment.