Sunday, April 17, 2011

Montenegro's stats office to publish sensitive census data by mid-July


14/04/2011

PODGORICA, Montenegro -- The Statistical Office, MONSTAT, will publish results of the population census related to ethnicity, religion and language by July 15th, as agreed during a meeting Wednesday (April 13th) between Prime Minister Igor Luksic and representatives of the opposition New Serbian Democracy party, Andrija Mandic and Predrag Danilovic. The process will be monitored by experts from the EU's statistical office, EUROSTAT. The census started on April 1st and is still under way. Some Serb opposition parties have already speculated about the results, as regards the number of Serbs living in Montenegro. (RTCG, Mina, Pcnen, Radio Free Europe - 13/04/11)

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ahhh-hahahahahahaha ....

Double Eagle said...

I'm afraid this census will seal the fate of Albanians in Montenegro. What will Muslim Albanains do? Will they declare themselves Muslim or Albanian on the census form?

Anonymous said...

I didn't know Muslim was a choice when it came to ethnicity, Double Eagle. The last census form I looked at, Muslim was listed as a religion, not an ethnicity. My thought is that Muslim albanians could declare themselves exactly as they are: Muslim by faith, Albanian by ethnicity.

Double Eagle said...

I may be wrong, but "Muslim" is an identity question on the ballot; you are either Albanian or Muslim, but not both. I will do more research on this.

HOWEVER, as the 2003 results below illustrate, Muslim was considered a group alongside ethnicity. So the question is, how many of those who identify themselves as "Muslim" are also "Albanian?"

The results of the last census in 2003(only the nationalities which constitute above 1% in total population included):

Montenegrins 267,669 (43.16%)
Serbs 198,414 (31.99%)
Bosniaks 48,184 (7.77%)
Albanians 31,163 (5.03%)
Muslims 24,625 (3.97%)
Croats 6,811 (1.1%)

Dritan said...

What is the conundrum here?

1) Albanians in Tuz are Catholic and Muslim (slightly higher Catholic).

2) Muslim Albanians have an identity crisis? Do they consider themselves "Albanian" first, and "Muslim" second? Or is it the other way around?

3) Do Catholic Albanians count themselves as "Albanian" or "Montenegrin?"

Before you cry foul at #3, let me explain. The politics of ethnicity/identity that is being played out in MZ campaign for non-Montenegrins to think they are actually Montenegrin because it resembles a sense of belonging to the state, a duty of citizenship. Look at it this way, many Albanians in America identify themselves as "American" simply because they feel they owe an allegance to the country. They are "proud to be American", but unlike Montenegro, America doesn't ask you to distinguish your race/ethnicity (we always tick either "other" or "caucasian" on ballots).

Anyhow, this is very sensitive and worth studying after it all over and done with.

Double Eagle said...

PODGORICA, Montenegro -- The country's population and household census ended without irregularities and was conducted according to the law, the Statistical Office MONSTAT announced on Saturday (April 16th). The headcount was held from April 1st to15th, with preliminary results expected on May 15th. Data related to ethnicity, religion and language will be published by July 15th. (RTS, RTCG, Radio Free Europe - 16/04/11)

Anonymous said...

Hey guys (or gals), I really like your design? The stuff in here is really kool. I have a question - is that demonstration on teh home page in Montenegro or Malesia? Or is it in the USA?

Anonymous said...

The Montenegrin authorities won’t have any problems gathering this population census; the only concern that I have is, will they be fair when counting the Albanian population! Irregularities, yes, based on their previous practice, are very possible! Don’t make that mistake!