NUR-SULTAN /ex ASTANA (Xinhua) — Kazakhstan has postponed the national population census to October 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the press office of the Ministry of National Economy announced on Saturday.

Kazakhstan is scheduled to conduct a national population census next October using a combination of an online survey, home visits and inspections.

The government budget has allocated 8.2 bln tenge ($19 mln) for the census, with a total of 32,500 staff participating in it.

Kazakhstan conducts a national census about every 10 years. The last census took place in 2009, when its population stood at 16 mln. As of 2020, statistics showed that Kazakhstan’s population has topped 18.7 mln, making it the second most populous country in Central Asia after Uzbekistan.