A trial census will be held in Varaždin, Primorje-Gorski Kotar, Osijek-Baranja and Split-Dalmatia Counties and the City of Zagreb from 1 to 15 March, covering about 12,000 people.

In Varaždin County, a sample of ten census districts has been selected for the trial census which will cover about 1,000 households and slightly over 2,000 people, County Deputy Prefect Robert Vugrin said earlier this week.

“The purpose of the trial census is to identify any possible shortcomings and problems so that the actual census can run smoothly,” Vugrin said, adding that the census would be conducted via the e-Citizens application.

Census takers will visit households that have not completed the census form via the e-Citizens application. Vugrin said that the County administration had proposed that census takers undergo testing for coronavirus beforehand to reduce the possibility of infection to a minimum.

The director of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS), Lidija Brković, said that the trial census had been postponed twice, the first time because of last year’s agricultural census and the second time because of the coronavirus outbreak.

She said that the trial census was important because of new methods of data gathering and processing, noting that modernisation was one of the DZS’s strategic goals. “It has been decided that for the first time all citizens of Croatia will be able to fill in the census form on their own.”

The actual census has been originally planned for April, but it will most likely be held in June.

As for people in earthquake-effected areas, Brković said that the census would be conducted in the same way as elsewhere in the country. “Any citizens who are not at their address at the time of the census or who are currently displaced will be entered into the census system in their present place of residence,” she said.