"To date, about 240,000 Madeirans have been registered in the census," according to information released by the vice-presidency of the regional executive.

According to the Regional Government, although "it is premature to make an assessment of the final resident population, and not knowing in full the percentage of accommodation to be registered that is or is not occupied by families, a decrease in the resident population in the region compared to the 2011 Census is estimated.

The vice-presidency of the Madeiran executive states that, on 4 May, "only information from 7,660 lodgings remained to be collected, within the scope of the 2021 Census, which corresponds to 5.5 percent of the total number of lodgings in the Autonomous Region of Madeira.

Data collected by the Regional Directorate of Statistics of Madeira "shows that the response given on time - that is, between 19 April and 3 May - covered 94.5 percent of the approximately 140,000 dwellings existing" in the archipelago.

Based on the situation registered by the National Statistics Institute (INE), Madeira "is the region of the country with the highest percentage of registered lodgings, with a positive differential of over five percentage points in relation to the national average.

In the note, the island's government highlights the "unsurpassed collaboration" of the population, indicating that the number of dwellings that remain to be counted is less than 5 percent and the process "is practically complete in the municipalities of Porto Moniz, Calheta, São Vicente and Porto Santo".

The responses received resulted from online completion by 89 percent of households, 6 percent by direct interview of the census taker and 4 percent in the parish councils, having been "residual" responses via telephone or paper.

The Regional Directorate of Statistics also recalls that "the operation is for statistical purposes only, and does not result in cross-checking with the Treasury, with Social Security or any other entity".

"All the information reported is confidential and will not result in the loss of benefits in individual terms", it indicates.

The Regional Government points out that the data collected under this process, the Censuses 2021, will be "known between the end of July and the beginning of August, in a simultaneous disclosure of the statistical authorities involved in the operation, INE and regional statistical services of Madeira and the Azores."