Calculation completed

So we have announced the preliminary results of the All-Russian population census. The results are completely ambiguous and you won’t immediately understand how to react - either to be horrified, or to laugh. Let's try to figure it out.

Of course, it would be worth starting with an overview of the map of a dying people and telling that in the entire western part of Russia there are only two regions with a growing population - Moscow and St. Petersburg. But - this is obvious to everyone - the emigrants and the Russian provinces, which are gathering in search of a place under the sun, are to blame.

Or talk about the fact that you will not find a higher rate of population decline than in the Pskov region (we are now 90,000 people less than in 2002) in the entire North-West. But this is quite expected, because in the region with the highest unemployment, the lowest wages and, at the same time, one of the highest food prices throughout the Northwestern Federal District, it is impossible to keep the young and mobile part of the population.

Therefore, I propose to look at the past census from a different angle.

For example, the previous population census in 2002 cost the country about 4.5 billion rubles, the last census in 2010 cost 17 billion, that is, four times more! Growth, clearly outpacing inflation. Here is an interesting fact. Where did the next billions of taxpayers go?

Based on this very impressive cost of the all-Russian project, it would probably be worthwhile to conclude that the amount of work was almost four times greater. Apparently, there were so many of us that it took four times as many scribes to count the people! But the trouble is, according to this very census, there are 2.2 million of us less than in 2002. So that's not the reason.

Maybe the rationale for such a high cost is that the work was done four times better and more thoroughly? Definitely! After all, they even managed to say exactly how many in this census the census takers missed and did not count. Namely, about 11% of the population, that is, about 16 million citizens of Russia, according to the organizers, was not rewritten.

So where does the number come from? How did they get it? Some fantasy! Perhaps, here it is - the answer to the question, where did such impressive financial resources go. To the new "nanotechnology"! After all, the Russian government no longer uses other technologies. Probably, the money was spent on "nanotechnology", which takes into account not only those fellow citizens who participated in the census, but also those who refused to do so, and those who could not be found for various reasons.

These are all jokes, of course.

Speaking seriously, they copied us through our fingers and through our sleeves. It could not have been otherwise, given that the census taker's salary depended on the number of completed questionnaires. And if we add to this essential condition the historically developed Russian ingenuity, then ways to earn money quickly and easily are discovered instantly. And, indeed, there is a large amount of evidence of rewriting us not personally, but according to house books and passport offices. Therefore, even if they did not come to you, this does not mean at all that you were not counted.

As for determining the number of people not recorded in the census, everything falls into place when you realize that state institutions for registering the population have long been established and are working. This is the same migration service that issues passports, the Pension Fund and the Social Insurance Fund, the Rosregistration service. The error in their population calculations is no more, and, most likely, significantly less than that of savvy census takers.

Agree, it is difficult to get the number of the missing inhabitants of the country, otherwise than by subtracting what happened as a result of the census from what was automatically calculated by routine state accounting.

This is where the most interesting and important question arises. If everyone could be counted anyway (because in fact everyone was counted), then why was the All-Russian festivity of blue bags and scarves necessary?

The first and most obvious reason is that someone took a good chunk out of the budget. Spreading the desired amount over the number of propaganda videos, equipping census takers and organizing events is a trifling matter for officials. Remember the unexpected problem with the purchase of bags in several regions of the country just a couple of days before the start of the census? But the money was clearly in abundance.

The second reason is not so obvious, but it is perhaps the most important: the upcoming federal elections in 2011 and 2012. What is the connection?

In a number of regions, the census takers themselves unofficially admitted that they were forced to fill out a certain (and considerable) number of questionnaires for non-existent people, simply to invent Russian citizens. For what?

Each such virtual resident is a completely obedient voter who will definitely vote for those who drew him. A good way to increase the electorate when the real one no longer supports you.

For example, in small Pskov, 10-20 thousand such non-existent voters are enough to radically change the official election results in the right direction.

So, it is possible that the All-Russian population census is a step by the current government to achieve the desired result in the 2012 elections, because there is no chance to honestly remain at the helm. What remains is the unanimous will of millions of non-existent voters, who were counted in advance across the country as a whole.

Dmitry ZOLOTKO