Rosstat announced the first results of the population census

According to the All-Russian population census, there are approximately 147 million people living in Russia. This is a preliminary estimate, which was announced by the head of Rosstat Pavel Malkov at a government meeting. The final figure will be published on the Rosstat website in May 2022.

“Today, we can announce the first approximate estimate of the country's population. Approximately 147 million people permanently live in Russia. This is a preliminary figure. It will be adjusted, but no more than by 0.3%” said Pavel Malkov, head of Rosstat.

Rosstat continues to verify data received from various sources.

“We received information from different sources: through the web portal of Government Services, via the tablets of census takers, from the permanent census areas, from a special category of citizens on paper machine-readable sheets. Now we are harmonizing the databases, cleaning up duplicated information and checking data coherence,” said the head of Rosstat.

At the beginning of the year, Rosstat published a preliminary estimate of the country's population, excluding census data, which equaled 145.5 million people. Previous censuses also showed an excess of the actual number over the data from administrative sources.

"The census sets a zero point, and in this figure, over time, statistical discrepancy expectedly begins to cumulate, which is corrected during the next census. The cumulate statistical discrepancy in the traditional administrative accounting of births and deaths, cumulated misreporting of migration flows within the country and with other states. It means, now we are setting a new zero point of reference: 147 million people give or take 0.3%," explained Pavel Malkov.

According to preliminary estimates in more than 20 regions, the number of population according to the census will be higher than the current estimate, the head of Rosstat noted. The increase in the number of residents in Moscow and the Moscow region, in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region, in the Krasnodar Krai shows a misreport of the annually recorded migratory population growth in these regions. At the same time, in 27 regions of the country, the population decreased compared to the current estimate. These are the regions of the Far Eastern Federal District, some regions of the North Caucasus, Privolzhskiy and North-Western Federal Districts.

Rosstat plans to publish the preliminary results of the census in April, which will be the data on the population of Russia by region. Then, from May to December 2022, monthly final results will be released on different topics and directions.

In particular, the final statistical data on the population of Russia and regions of Russia will be published in May, the statistics on municipalities will be published in June, the data on gender and age composition, education, nationalities and competence in languages will be published in September. The statistics on migration and indigenous minorities will be published in October, the data on the birth rate and household composition will be published in November, while the information on housing conditions and the labor force characteristics will be published in December. In July, Rosstat will present to the Government a report on the key outcomes of the census. In August, Rosstat will begin publishing the data in the form of tables and graphs on its website.

Reference:

The All-Russian Population Census was held from October 15 to November 14, 2021, with the widespread use of digital technologies. The main innovation of the census was the possibility for the citizens to fill in the electronic census form at the web portal Gosuslugi.ru. Census takers used Russian-made tablet computers with the Russian Aurora operating system. It was also possible to fill in the census form at the census area, including at the My Documents Multifunctional center.