Helme: Full-scale census requires extra €8 million
Minister of Finance Martin Helme (EKRE) said that all government parties support carrying out a full census. While this would cost an extra €8 million, it would render census data more accurate.
The government has postponed the decision until January as the extra funds are still being sought.
The decision not to handle the 2021 census based on registers alone was made some time ago. Statistics Estonia was to announce today whether data from registers would be complemented by interviewing 60,000 people or everyone who does not fill out an online form.
The latter option would reduce the census' error margin from 4-5 percent to 2.5 percent, while costing an additional €8 million. The Statistics Estonia press conference scheduled for today was canceled as the government has not made a decision yet.
"The answer to the question of where the finance minister plans to get the money is very simple. He will go to other ministers and say that they need to find it by cutting back elsewhere," Helme told ERR.
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Editor: Marcus Turovski