Yearly report to replace census every decade
Switzerland will stop conducting a national census every decade and will instead collect information yearly, mainly from official population registers.
The Federal Statistics Office said on its website on Wednesday that information not included in these registers will be collected by random sampling among the population.
Depending on the type of information required, up to 200,000 people will be contacted by phone or by post.
The first random sample will be taken on December 31.
The Statistics Office says that the new system will enable it to make much better analyses of the rapid changes in society and the economy. It will also save about SFr100 million ($92 million) in comparison with the old model.
Switzerland’s first national census was conducted in 1850. The last one was in 2000.
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