The statistical Office of Kosovo has the pleasure to publish the Preliminary Results of the Kosovo 2011 population and housing census. This is a historical time in Kosovo since the last set of reliable census data goes back to 1981. The data obtained through the census 2011 will give a completely fresh perspective to the ongoing development of Kosovo and the census results will provide invaluable data for future policy development and planning.
Preliminary Results of the census are in line with the census law No 03/L–237 requirements on methodology, definitions and deadlines. This leaflet presents the key data on Kosovo's population, on its geographical and gender distribution, on the living arrangements and the housing stock in Kosovo. The key data include for example the total population and average household size. The total population in Kosovo is 1.733.872*. Gender breakdown shows a slight dominance of men, who represent 50,4% of the total population and there is no significant difference at municipal level. The high household average size of 5,88 members is a Kosovo distinctive characteristic. However, the average household size varies greatly among the municipalities; the lowest average being 4,06 in the municipality of Ranillug and the highest 9,77 in the municipality of Mamushë. A significant data is also a high level of non inhabited dwellings since 28,4% of the total dwelling stock is empty.
Preliminary results correspond to a simple count of the units enumerated during the census - namely buildings, dwellings, households and persons - as it was reported by the enumerators who were writing down daily how many questionnaires they had filled-in for each of these categories. Consequently, it should be noted that this data can not be considered final since their accuracy could not be checked at this stage.
A population and housing census is the biggest operation of data collection for a statistical institute and it is also the most costly one. The Statistical Office would like to thank all the partners at national and international levels and especially mention the crucial involvement of contributors to the census financing by expressing the deepest appreciation to the European Commission and to the Governments of United Kingdom, Sweden, Switzerland, Luxemburg and Denmark for their generous and vital support to the census. The Kosovo 2011 census was also assisted by international technical support with an International Monitoring Operation having provided constant assessment and recommendations on all census phases and EU-funded technical assistance projects having ensured the professional compliance with the best European statistical rules and practices.
Yet, the census would never have been successful without the participation of all residents of Kosovo. We would like to thank those that have taken part in this essential undertaking and guarantee that they will soon benefit from better services from their municipalities and from Kosovo authorities based on tangible and objective measures and indicators provided by the census. As it could be expected for a first census after so many years, the Kosovo census also faced some cases of reluctance to participate. Even though the participation has not been even in all the population groups, this does not have statistical importance and users can fully trust the major Kosovo housing and demographic trends and characteristics shown by the preliminary results.
* The census results include data from 34 municipalities. Due to objective reasons the enumeration could not be carried out in the Northern municipalities, which has been recognised by the Census Trust Fund Steering Committee. The Statistical Office of Kosovo will publish estimates for these municipalities later on.
Statistical Office of Kosovo
