The Principles and Recommendations
for Population and Housing Censuses –
Major changes
United Nations Statistics Division
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
World Programmes Timeline
World
programmes
UN Statistical
Commission
on censuses
Principles and
recommendations
for population
and housing
censuses
1947
56 58
Supplementary P&R
65 66
74
80
84 87
Year
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
94 98
04 06
Map of the 2000 World Programme
The 2010 World Programme of
Population and Housing Censuses and
changes in the Principles and
Recommendations for conducting
censuses
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
2010 World Census Programme
 Endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission in
March 2005 and adopted by the United Nations Economic
and Social Council in July 2005
 Three essential goals of Programme:
• for Member States to carry out a population and
housing census during the period 2005-2014 and to
disseminate census results in a timely manner
• to agree on a set of acceptable international principles
and recommendations governing the conduct of a
census
• to facilitate countries in conducting censuses
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
The revision of the United Nations Principles
and Recommendations for Population and
Housing Censuses
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
Revision of the Principles and Recommendations
 Principles and Recommendations
for Population and Housing
Censuses, Rev. 2 adopted by the
United Nations Statistical
Commission in March 2007
 Published in English and
available on UNSD website
before translation into the other
5 UN official langages
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/census2010.htm
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
Principles and Recommendations
Main features of the review process
 Extensive international consultative process
 Gradual process through regional and
international consultations
• Meetings
• E-mail exchanges
• On-line discussion forum
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
Principles and Recommendations - major changes
Orientation
 Emphasis on production of outputs for
evidence-based decision making
 Recognition of an integrated statistical system
for the production of outputs
 Non-prescription of data sources for outputs
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
Outputs/tabulations
 Basic/essential tabulations
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Top priority
Providing minimum statistics for countries in difficult circumstances
Population (20)
Housing (7)
 Recommended tabulations
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Adequate for meeting essential data needs for evidence-based
planning, monitoring and implementation of national policies
Population (33)
Housing (19)
 Optimal tabulations

Meet the needs of most data users nationally and internationally
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
On the recommended tabulations
 Reflect essential data needs - relevance at
national and international levels
 Potential for production of detailed statistics at
lowest geographical level
 Developed independently of source
 Produced at least once in the period 20052014
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
Set of recommended tabulations
 Number of recommended by broad topic (51 tables)
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•
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•
•
Geographical and internal migration characteristics – 6
International migration characteristics – 4
Household and family characteristics – 3
Demographic and social characteristics – 2
Fertility and mortality - 4
Educational characteristics - 3
Economic characteristics – 8
Disability characteristics – 3
Housing characteristics - 19
 Produced at least once in the period 2005-2014
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
Metadata for recommended tabulations
 All recommended tabulations require metadata
 Metadata necessary for understanding underlying
concepts and methodology
 Type of metadata
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Core topics represented
Source of statistics
Type of population count
Definition of urban/rural
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
Core topics
 Topics of high relevance across countries
 Permit national and international comparability
of data by use of common concepts and
definitions
 Developed through international consultative
process
 Main variables for recommended tabulations
• Population - 31 core topics with 25 direct
and 6 derived
• Housing - 21 core topics
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
Changes in core topics - Population
Non-core to core
 Date of birth of the last
child born alive
 Births in the past 12
months
 Household deaths in the
past 12 months
 Deaths among children born
in the past 12 months
 Country of birth
 Year or period of arrival
 Disability status
Core to non-core
 Time worked
Alternate core topics
 Place of previous
residence
 Place of residence at a
specified date in the past
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
Changes in core topics – Housing
New core
 Fuel used for cooking
 Main source of
drinking water
 Information
technology and
communication
devices in the
household
Core to non-core
 Year or period of
construction
 Useful floor space
 Rental and owneroccupied housing costs
Separate core topics –
previously one
 Type of toilet
 Sewage disposal
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
Principles and Recommendations - major changes

Introducing definition of Place of usual residence
(a) The place at which the person has lived continuously
for most of the last 12 months (that is, for at least six
months and one day), not including temporary
absences for holidays or work assignments, or intends
to live for at least six months; OR
(b) The place at which the person has lived continuously
for at least the last 12 months, not including
temporary absences for holidays or work assignments,
or intends to live for at least 12 months.

Impact on regional and international data comparability
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
Principles and Recommendations - major changes
New classification of living quarters:
 With clearer distinction between conventional
and non-conventional housing units
 Enlarges the taxonomy of collective living
quarters
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
Principles and Recommendations – major changes: Previous
classification of living quarters
Living quarters
Housing units
Collective living quarters
Conven.
dwellings
Hotels
Basic
dwellings
Institutions
Temp.
Hous. units
Camps
Mobile
Hous. units
Other
Marginal
Hous. units
Improvised
Not for
habit.
Other
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
Principles and Recommendations – major changes: Revision 2
classification of living quarters
Living quarters
Collective living quarters
Housing units
Conventional
dwellings
Other housing
units
Hotels
Mobile
Hous. units
Has all basic
facilities
Institutions
Camps
Temp.
Hous. units
Does not
have all basic
facilities
Other
Marginal
Hous. units
Improvised
Not for
habitation
Hospitals
Correctional
Military
Religious
Retirement
Students
Other
Staff quarters
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
Principles and Recommendations - major changes
Alternative approaches
 Introducing elaboration of alternative
approaches
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Traditional census – most countries
Register based census
Rolling surveys (with national variants)
 UNSD website – national examples of
alternative approaches
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
Concerns raised against traditional censuses
 Periodicity of data production
 Prohibitive costs
 Untimeliness of census results
 Under-coverage
 In some cases questionable data quality
 Inflexibility
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
Principles and Recommendations – Alternative
approaches
Register based census - Prerequisites
 Personal identification number
 Comprehensive and functioning system of
registers
 Legal basis
 Public trust
 Unique and uniform coding systems
 Record linking across registers
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
Principles and Recommendations – Alternative
approaches
Register based census - Advantages
 Timeliness of data
 Reduced cost associated with data
compilation
 Reduced respondent burden
 Maximizes use of data collected by different
agencies
 Flexibility in terms of reference date and
periodicity
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
Principles and Recommendations – Alternative
approaches
Register based census - Disadvantages
 Lack of flexibility – expanding data items
 Completeness of data limited to data
available in registers
 High initial investment setting up registers
 Need continuous financial and other
resources to sustain registers
 Harmonization of concepts and definitions
across registers could be an issue
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
Principles and Recommendations – Alternative
approaches
Rolling surveys - Prerequisites
 Convincing stakeholders
 Substantial annual funding
 High level of professional staff throughout
decade
 Complex methodology to minimize sampling
and non-sampling errors
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
Principles and Recommendations – Alternative
approaches
Rolling surveys - Advantages
 Proving data more frequently
 Enhancing the value of information by
constant updates
 Spreading the cost of data collection over a
period of time
 Room for technological innovations
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
Principles and Recommendations – Alternative
approaches
Rolling surveys - Disadvantages
 Technically demanding
 Multi-year planning and testing
necessary
 Possibility of double-reporting
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
Principles and Recommendations – Alternative
approaches
National examples of variants of rolling surveys
 USA approach based on a combination of
• Traditional 10-year census using the short
form, and
• American Community Survey (continuous
cumulative survey)
 French rolling census (continuous
cumulative survey)
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
Principles and Recommendations – Alternative
approaches
USA approach - Traditional censuses with yearly updates
 Census year: Total population count and basic
characteristics based on short questionnaire
 Every year: Large household survey that replaces
decennial long form
 Data from survey used to model estimates
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
Principles and Recommendations – Alternative
approaches
USA approach - Traditional censuses with
yearly updates
Some issues
 Requires building and keeping the address
frame up-to-date
 Some operational risks likely reduced –
short questionnaire only
 Work in progress – lessons learnt on the go
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
Principles and Recommendations – Alternative
approaches
French approach - rolling census
 Data collected each year used for modeling of
estimates
 Quinquennial rolling cycle: Every year, Y, data are
produced on the basis of data collected in Y-4, Y-3,
Y-2, Y-1 and Y with the average on Y-2
•
For communes less than 10,000 – full count once in a five
year period
•
For communes over 10,000 – sample of 8% of dwellings
each year for five years
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
Principles and Recommendations – Alternative
approaches
French approach - rolling census
Some issues
 Inventory of buildings – continuously
updated building register
 Close relationship between statistical office
and communes
 Work in progress – lessons learnt on the go
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
Principles and Recommendations – major changes
Contracting out
Funding for the census
Quality assurance (instead of quality control)
Enhanced section on census mapping including
on geo-coding and contemporary GIS
 Focus on hard to capture and enumerate
population groups
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Homeless
Indigenous populations
 Promotion of, and training on, use of data
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007
Principles and Recommendations – concluding
remarks
 Submitted for printing
 Translation into all UN official languages
 Accompanied by:
• set of handbooks
• technical reports
• web-based knowledge base
 Other activities of the 2010 World Programme
3rd Africa Symposium on Statistical Development
Accra, Ghana, 3 – 7 December 2007