TEHRAN (IRIB) -- The sixth Iranian nationwide census began on Saturday and will continue up to November 17.

The census will be quite distinct from former ones as this year the census will be conducted simultaneous with taking samples.

According to the procedure of sample taking, every family has to respond to 26 questions, once the census clerk refers to them.

The 10th house referred to by the census clerks will be considered as a sample and therefore the relevant family has to answer to 56 questions. Thus 10 percent of Iranian families across the country will be subject of sample taking.

The advantage of taking samples concurrent to census is that the relevance costs will be reduced remarkably.

Another advantage of the census to be conducted in the current Iranian year (started March 21), compared to the former ones, is the use of ICR system, which ensures a 99.8 percent precision in collection of information.

Besides, the relevant questions have been selected according to international standards.

The census will be conducted by 88,000 clerks, 62 percent of whom have certificates higher than high school graduates and 60 percent of them are women.

The 20-day public census of the current year will cost around 40 million dollars.

The outcome of the census will be declared on February 16 and the relevant reports will be released on March 20.