From today, Portuguese nationals and residents are being warned to ‘watch their mailboxes’. INE, the national statistics institute, is sending out letters giving people the codes they will need to respond to this year’s census online.
Once people have the codes, they will be expected to access the site (https://censos2021.ine.pt/) and answer all the questions accordingly, from April 19.
The national mail-drop is in the hands of 11,000 ‘recenseadores’ (census takers) who will be carrying identification, wearing high-viz ‘Censos 2021’ vests and available to answer householders questions.
The mail-drop is expected to take roughly two weeks, in time for the April 19 ‘start’.
INE explains the idea of answering this national questionnaire online is to help with all the constraints of the pandemic.
Citizens will have until May 3 to give their details, but for those with no Internet access, there is a telephone number: 21 054 2021.
Answers can also be given at the e-counters of Juntas de Freguesias (parish council offices), but these are unlikely to be available until May 31.
Says INE, this is the ‘largest statistical operation’ to be carried out in Portugal. The last census was in 2011.
