Croatia Extends Census Deadline amid Pandemic-Linked Problems

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic told a cabinet meeting on Monday that the Croatian government has extended by two weeks to November 14 the deadline for the completion of the population census because of difficulties caused by the pandemic.

"Considering the present circumstances of the coronavirus pandemic, in which our census-takers are encountering certain difficulties on the ground, and following consultations with the director of the National Bureau of Statistics, the government will extend the deadline for the completion of the census until November 14," Croatia news agency HINA quoted Plenkovic as saying.

This is not the first deadline extension during this year's census. During the first phase of the head-count, people were given the option to enter their own data via the E-gradani (E-citizen) online platform, but the deadline, originally set for September 26, was extended by a day because the system crashed for a few hours on the last day.

1,400,000 Croatian citizens entered their data online, although they were still required to give a code to the census-takers.

The second phase of the census was also extended by the Croatian Bureau of Statistics after it was estimated that its October 17 deadline would not be met.

Census-takers also encountered problems in the field with the app they used, tportal reported.

Media also reported other problems - lack of census-takers in some counties such as Istria, confusion about whether or not the census-takers would need a COVID pass, as well as criticism of the methodology used by the Bureau of Statistics.

Damir Plesac from the Bureau of Statistics told N1 TV on Sunday that the final census results could show the true scale of what he called a "demographic catastrophe".<...