More than two million citizens in Bavaria will be surveyed for the census in the coming weeks. On Monday, the survey officers will begin the first surveys. They should have processed the entire sample by mid-August, according to the Bavarian State Office for Statistics.
According to this, around 550,000 addresses were randomly selected in Bavaria, where around 2.38 million people live. Those who are to be interviewed are informed of this beforehand by a note in their mailbox – the survey officers are never at the door unannounced, as the statistics office emphasizes. In the last census in 2011, scammers used the census for their own purposes.
The interviewers ask about their age and marital status, and about half of the respondents also receive a questionnaire on their school qualifications or occupation. The questions must be answered. Anyone who refuses repeatedly risks a fine. The Bavarian data protection officer considers the surveys harmless. Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) also emphasized that the data would not be passed on to other authorities or third parties.