Population Census
What is a census? 
The United Nations addressed the countries all over the world, inviting them to conduct Population and Housing Censuses at the threshold of the third millennium. Lithuania answered this initiative by conducting a census in April 2001.
The census was carried out for the first time after the restoration of Lithuania’s independence.
The census moment for the data acquired in conducting the Population and Housing Census was 12 p.m. of 5 April 2001.
The population census is a pivotal campaign, huge in its scope of information collection, data processing and dissemination. Only a census provides a unique opportunity to collect information on each person at a fixed time and to obtain a "copy" of all indicators such as data on age, sex, nationality, education, citizenship, marital status, sources of livelihood, activity, occupation, religious confession, living conditions, indicators on buildings, etc. This stands out as the main advantage of the population and housing census.
The census counts everybody, every household and dwelling to know how many people, households, dwellings are in the country, so that later it is possible to analyze this rich information.
One might think that it is enough to conduct a census just once, later on updating the data with the information about the number of births, deaths, arrivals to and departures from a certain locality. This information yet would be just evaluation and the data would differ greatly from the reality. The more years would pass from the last census, the higher deviation from the reality would occur. Furthermore, such variables as social status, national belonging, language and economic characteristics of the population are impossible to update.
