MOSCOW, November 8. /TASS/. The necessity to hold a nationwide population census is supported by about 75% of Russians, according to the results of a poll by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) provided to TASS by the media office of the Nationwide Census.

"75% of respondents think that it is ‘rather necessary’ to hold a census. This is more than according to a similar poll by the FOM dedicated to the Nationwide Census. The majority of those polled in every age group agree with the opinion that the participation in the census is everyone’s duty including those 18-30 years of age (47% agree, 11% found it difficult to answer)," the document said.

For 36% of those polled, the preferred option of participating in the census was via a census taker at home. At the same time, 27% said that it was more convenient to participate over the Internet while 9% planned to visit a census station. "The majority of those who chose this variant (13%) as well as [chose] to wait for a census taker's visit (53%) are in the 60+ age group. The online census is selected by 48% of those polled in the 18-30 age group and 39% - in the 31-45 age group," the document specified.

Overall, 46% of the respondents think that the census should be held remotely while 32% support the mixed format which involves both the interaction with the census takers and filling out census questionnaires online.

The survey was conducted in October 2021 among Russian residents over 18 in 53 Russian regions, 104 populated localities with 1,500 respondents participating. The margin of error does not surpass 3.6%.

Under a decree of the Russian government, the nationwide census is being held on October 15 through November 14, 2021, in digital format. Apart from the traditional ways of polling, the participants can now file their questionnaires online. The results of the first stage of the census should be published by May 31, 2022, and the results of the second stage - by December 31, 2022.