The second All-Russian census officially kicked off on Thursday in the country's Far East regions of Primorye and Kamchatka.
The census, the second since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, will take place on October 14-25. Its cost is estimated at some 17 billion rubles ($).
In some remote areas of the North Caucasus, South Siberia's Altai and the Far East the census began two weeks before the official starting date, and took place between September 30 and October 14. More than 350,000 people were questioned.
St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matvienko and Bashkortostan President Rustem Khamitov were the first regional leaders to take part in the census.
About 200 census takers will collect information in military bases, military units and the Strategic Missile Forces.
Some 616,000 census takers are to be employed all across Russia, with an average monthly wage of some 5,500 rubles ($183). All of them are insured, and will receive up to 20,000 rubles ($667) in compensation if injured during their work.
During the previous census in 2002 some 500 injuries involving census takers were registered, with almost 70% of them resulting from dog attacks.
MOSCOW, October 14 (RIA Novosti)
