CENSUS IN CROATIA TO BEGIN APRIL 1

ZAGREB, March 30 (Hina) - The census, list of households and flats will begin on April 1 and will last for two weeks. It will cost 142 million kuna, and most of the funds will be spent for the payment of 27,000 people who will be carrying out the census, director of the State Bureau of Statistics, Ivan Rusan, told a news conference Friday. The only aim of the census is to get accurate information, and is based on three principles -- neutrality, objectivity and expert independence -- which is in accordance with UN and Eurostat recommendations, Rusan said, stressing that this is the biggest statistical research, or and inventory, of a country which is carried out every ten years. Citizens are ensured secrecy of information which, based on legal provisions, will be kept secret and not available even to certain ministries. The census will involve Croatian citizens, people without Croatian citizenship, but with registered residence in Croatia, and foreign citizens who have residence in Croatia or are present in Croatia temporarily, excluding people at embassies. Following a review of the data, which will last some five to six months, will, among else, establish the demographic, location, economic, social, housing and family characteristics of Croatia. Regarding nationality and religion issues, Rusan said that if one does not wish to do so, a citizen does not have to fill in these questions, in which case the person carrying out the census should warn that the citizen's answer will fall into the category of "not declared". Several officials of the Catholic Church called on Croats several days ago to state their nationality and religion. The same was done by the Serb Orthodox Church and associations of Germans and Austrians in Croatia. According to the 1991 census, Croatia had a population of about 4.7 million, while permanent residents were counted to be about 4.4 million. (hina) lml sb