The preparations are being made in line with the law and recommendations given by EUROSTAT, which monitored a trial census held last year.
Milinovic said questions on nationality and religion are expected to be formulated within the next fortnight. These questions are considered especially sensitive in Bosnia, so EUROSTAT has recommended that census takers should not suggest any answers in order to avoid discrimination against citizens who do not wish to declare themselves as members of one of the three Bosnian constituent peoples - Croats, Serbs or Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims).
Bosnia held the last census in 1991 which showed that its population was a little over 4.3 million. According to unofficial estimates, now population could be about 3.8 million.
The population census is an extremely sensitive political question in Bosnia because, other than provide statistical data, it is expected to confirm how the 1992-95 war impacted the demographic structure in the wake of mass ethnic cleansing done in some parts of the country. This is why political parties were unable to agree on the census for years.
Bosniak parties insisted it should not be held before refugees and displaced persons came back, otherwise the state of affairs in the wake of persecutions and war crimes would be cemented by law. They said that if the census was held, citizens should not be required to state their nationality and religion, but parties from the Serb entity objected, demanding this be obligatory.
A compromise was reached with last year's census law which stipulates that questions on nationality and religion will be included in questionnaires but citizens are not required to answer them.
The census was to have been held this April, but due to technical shortcomings noticed in last year's trial census, it was postponed until October.