In addition to the traditional method of in-person information collection, the Internet and postal service will be used over a period of one to two months to collect census data. Data will be collected and processed on a number of topics, including nuclear family size, home type and heating methods and even the construction dates of the homes people live in. According the Anatolia news agency, the 2011 census will be more detailed than ever before.
A test run of the new system will be held from March through April next year to work out any kinks in the new data collection methods. The census will be conducted by TurkStat in coordination with a number of state agencies, including the Population and Citizenship General Directorate, the Health Ministry, the Education Ministry, the Social Security Institution (SGK), the Justice Ministry, the Directorate of Provincial Administrations and more. TurkStat will compile the results and publish them.
State Minister Cevdet Yılmaz spoke to Anatolia about the census, saying that the wealth of demographic information collected would shed light on the details of life in Turkey. At the moment, the census provides information on the number of people living in the country, gender distribution, rural-urban demographics and the distribution of the population across cities and provinces. “But there will now be an expansion of the information we have access to in terms of the population’s characteristics,” Yılmaz said. The new census will reveal details about quality of life, he added. “We will know how many square meters a person’s home is, how many rooms there are in the house, what their socioeconomic conditions are like, how many people in the home have disabilities.” Census questions will be sent by postal mail or online, and those who do not respond via one of these methods will be interviewed in person, the minister noted.
