North Macedonia decided to postpone its first census since 2002 from April to September this year, because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The leaders of the country’s two biggest parties, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev of the ruling SDSM and Hristijan Mickoski of the opposition VMRO DPMNE, agreed to postpone the census for September. The census – the first one to be held since 2002 – was originally scheduled to begin on April 1.

According to Mickoski, the decision was taken to allow the population to get vaccinated. He said that nationals of North Macedonia living outside the country can register via a mobile app which has been available since March.

Zaev and Mickoski also agreed to re-schedule the country’s upcoming local elections, moving them from early October to the latter half in the month.