TEHRAN, Sep. 27 (MNA) � Iran�s President Hassan Rouhani warned Tue. if officials choose to provide less-than-accurate census data and statistics for whatever reason, this will be considered as an act of treason.


Iranian President Hassan Rouhani addressed the staff and higher officials of national population and housing census�on Tuesday, praising the good progress they had made�in this field by comparing the three-month period now needed to announce the census results with the previous censuses that would took more than one year.

Rouhani stressed that census data must be accurate, transparent and accessible to the public, adding �the statistics will not only be used for government planning, but also the private sector needs the data to plan for future.�

�Common sense and collective wisdom tell us that for planning, we need to have access to primary information, and as such,�the Statistical�Center is of critical importance,� he stressed.

The President noted that this year was the first time people were asked to participate in a web-based national general census, deeming it a right decision.

According to Ashkan Shabbak, head of the supervisory committee on the census,�general response on the first day of the online survey was �unexpected�. Those who do not choose to fill out the online version will be surveyed later in October.

Iran's first census was conducted in 1956 and occurs every five years.� According to the World Bank, Iran is estimated to have 77 million people and a current population growth rate of around 1.3 per cent as of 2013.

By Mehr News Agency