Ashgabat, 30 June 2010 – Preparations for the national Census scheduled for December 2012 in Turkmenistan were discussed on 29 June at a joint meeting of members of the recently created Turkmenistan’s Census Coordination Committee, the State Statistics Committee and representatives of UN agencies working in Turkmenistan, including UNFPA, UNICEF, UNDP and UNHCR.

The Census Coordination Committee and other stakeholders were briefed on the Census procedures and roles of relevant agencies in the Census. The meeting also discussed the Census preparation work plan that included budget, logistics, coordination and other issues, and agreed on questionnaires for the population and household census. The questionnaires will comprise of modules on demography, labour and employment, household, and education. To this effect, a pilot census will be carried out among one hundred households in Akhal velayat in August 2010 to pretest the questionnaires.    

“The successful implementation of the Census is the priority area for the State Statistics Committee of Turkmenistan. By applying modern standards and best international practices in conducting the Census we will reiterate Turkmenistan’s commitment to the development in line with global trends,” said Akmurad Mammedov, Head of the State Statistics Committee. “In this regard, we cooperate with the United Nations as a unique institutional resource that can assist in strengthening the national capacity in data collection, analysis and management,” he added.

Under the new United Nations Development Assistance Framework for 2010-2015, the United Nations system in Turkmenistan will provide technical expertise to the national partners on strengthening their capacity to conduct the Census according to international standards. The Census data will be further analyzed and used by the Government to report on the progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals and national goals. 

The Census Coordination Committee also briefed the participants on the upcoming Census related consultancy, which will be carried out by international experts, and the development of software for Census data processing and analysis.

Such coordination meetings will take place regularly to ensure the highest level of preparation to the Census. 

For additional information please contact:

Ms. Jennet Appova, UNFPA Assistant Representative ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )
Mr. Shohrat Orazov, UNICEF Social Policy Officer ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )
Ms. Mary Risaeva, UNDP Programme Officer ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )
Mr. Batyr Sapbiyev, UNHCR Protection Officer ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )
Ms. Irina Dedova, Census Project Manager ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )