Kosovo officially has 1,602,515 resident inhabitants. Of them, 50.2% are men and 49.8% are women. The average age of the population is 34.8 years. The final data were published on Thursday by the Statistics Agency of Kosovo.
Compared to the last census that was done in 2011, the data show a decrease in the number of inhabitants by over 137 thousand as well as an aging population of 5 years.
The final number also includes the calculations for the number of Serbs living in the northern municipalities who largely boycotted the process. In that part, only over 6,000 Serbs were registered.
The calculation was made based on the best international practices and by foreign experts.
"We have come to the conclusion that in the northern part of Kosovo there are about 24,000 residents living there and it was added to the part that has been registered. That was the number 1 million and 602 thousand in total for the whole of Kosovo", said Avni Kastrati.
Albanians continue to be dominant with about 92% of the population, followed by Serbs with 2.3%, Bosniaks 1.7%, and then, in a lower percentage, Turks, Ashkali, Egyptians and Roma.
As for religious affiliation, Muslims are dominant with around 93.5%, followed by Orthodox 2.3%, who have also recorded the largest increase compared to 2011, as well as Catholics with 1.75%. There has been an increasing number of people who have declared themselves as atheists.
For the first time, war damages were also recorded, but the data are not accurate for the Statistics Agency.
"During the interview that took place in the family economy, if a family economy has been damaged but has moved outside of Kosovo to Germany, America or Australia, we have not been able to get the data for that family economy, which means there are more people, there is more damage", added KAS official, Kastrati.
According to the data, for the period February 1998 - June 1999, about 11,500 people were killed, over 1,000 were missing, over 6,600 were injured and over 3,300 were imprisoned.
Over 154,000 households suffered property damage during the war, while the value of the damage is considered over 5 billion euros.
Prime Minister Albin Kurti stated that the data represent the basis for designing and developing policies that address the real needs of citizens.
"The population census is more than collecting statistics, it is a clear overview of our reality, who we are, where we are, how many there are, how we are and how we can move forward. Census data is essential for all aspects of national planning and development," said Prime Minister Kurti.
The data show that in Kosovo the population has a large dominance of owned housing with 92.8%, while only 5.3% live on rent.
Currently, the registration for the diaspora is ongoing and so far it was said that 550 thousand people have been registered. (A2 Televizion)
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