2021 Russian census

The 2021 Russian census (Russian: Всероссийская перепись населения 2021 года, romanized: Vserossiyskaya perepis naseleniya 2021 goda, lit. '2021 All-Russian population census') was the first census of the Russian Federation population since 2010 and the third after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. It took place between October 15 and November 14. However, for the remote and inaccessible areas of Russia, the census took place between April 1 and December 20.

The preparations for the census started in 2017 with the adoption of the government decree "On the conduct of the Russian Population Census 2020". According to Pavel Malkov, head of Rosstat, the budget allocated for the 2020 census was 33 billion rubles. The motto of the census was "Create the future!".

On June 25, 2020, Rosstat announced its intention to conduct the main stage of the Russian population census in April 2021, and on June 29 this was confirmed. Due to the spread of COVID-19, the census dates were shifted several times, first to April, then to October 2021. The results have come under scrutiny due to a lack of participation within the census. Rosstat maintains that 99% of the population completed the census however the Levada Center estimated that around 42% of the population was not enumerated and has described the results as "one of the worst in 150 years".

The pilot census was conducted from October 1 to October 31, 2018. The main purpose was the development and testing of software and methodological, organizational and technological issues of the 2020 Census, taking into account the use of new methods of collecting information. The pilot census was divided into three stages: October 1–10 — online census; October 16–27 — door-to-door rounds; October 27–31 — control walk.

10 territories were allocated for the pilot census, the total population of which was about 550,000 people. These territories include:

In addition to the census through the State Services portal, for the first time in Russian history, the national postal operator Russian Post was involved in the census. According to the results of the 2018 pilot census, nearly 460,000 households were enumerated in electronic form with more than 1.2 million inhabitants.

In August 2019, in preparation for the 2020 census, work began to update the address lists in cities and rural areas. Based on the work of the registrars, the exact number of houses in each city and their location were determined. Later, Rosstat specialists conducted zoning to form enumeration and census areas. So, thanks to the registrars, a previously not documented village of Yozhikovo was "discovered" in Ruzsky District and two new ones in Udmurtia:

The census forms of standard "L", "P" and "V" were approved by the Government. The same questions are printed in paper questionnaires and are used in electronic tablets.