Population and housing censuses will be taken in the Republic of Moldova in 2024. This is provided in a bill that was endorsed by the Government. The legislative proposal creates the legal framework needed to take the future censuses and stipulates a periodicity of ten years, IPN reports.

Oleg Cara, director of the National Bureau of Statistics that is responsible for the organization and conduct of censuses, said that the last census taken in 2014 was regulated by a dedicated law whose effect expired the same year. The population and housing censuses of 2024 form part of the 2020 round.

The budget for the censuses was estimated at 329.2 million lei (about €16.3m), out of which approximately 36.8 million lei will be used for the agricultural module. The total budget is intended for census preparation works, census conduct and dissemination of the final results, being distributed until 2026.

Under the bill, the census data will be stored in electronic format during 100 years, while on paper for a year of the dissemination of the final census results and will be then transmitted for recycling.

The bill is to be examined and passed by Parliament.