UNITED NATIONS EXPERT GROUP MEETING ON
REVISING THE PRINCIPLES AND RECOMMENDATIONS
FOR POPULATION AND HOUSING CENSUSES
NEW YORK, 29 OCTOBER- 1 NOVEMBER 2013
SESSION 2
OVERVIEW OF THE 2010 ROUND OF
POPULATION AND HOUSING CENSUSES
REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES
UNECE REGION
IAN WHITE
UNECE CENSUS STEERING GROUP
PREPARATION OF CES RECOMMENDATIONS
FOR THE 2020 ROUND
• Conference of European Statisticians approved Work
Plan in Paris in June 2012
• Task Force established and Terms of Reference agreed
September 2012
• Online survey questionnaire developed SeptemberDecember 2012
• 24 Sections, more than 250 questions
• Survey launched January 2013 (in SurveyMonkey format)
• Response from 51 out of 57 countries
• Results analysed by Task Forces February-May 2013
• Preparation of Task Force reports on 2010 practices
and proposals for changes to the 2010
Recommendations June-September 2013
• Papers presented at joint UNECE/Eurostat Group of
Experts meeting Geneva, 30 Sept-3 Oct 2013
UNECE TASK FORCES
• Census methodology
(Erich Schulte-Nordholt, Statistics Netherlands)
• Census technology
(Janusz Dygaszewicz, Central Statistics Office, Poland)
• Quality and coverage
(Peter Benton, Office for National Statistics, UK)
• Costs and benefits
(Alistair Calder, Office for National Statistics, UK)
• Population bases and geographic characteristics
- Population bases (Giampaolo Lanzieri, Eurostat)
- Geographic characteristics
(Harald Utne, Statistics Norway)
• Demographic, household and family characteristics
(Howard Hogan, US Census Bureau)
• Economic and educational characteristics
(Jari Nieminen, Statistics Finland)
• Migration and ethno-cultural characteristics
(Jane Badets, Statistics Canada)
• Housing
(Adelheid Bauer, Statistics Austria)
OTHER TOPICS/ISSUES COVERED
BY THE UNECE STEERING GROUP
• Disability
• Agriculture
• Legislation
• Field Operations
• Communications and publicity
• Security, confidentiality and disclosure control
• Documentation, metadata and archiving
• Innovations
• Problems and successes
UNECE Region
Methodology in the UNECE Region
Traditional census – 31 countries (36 in 2000)
-
Full field enumeration, no registers 20
- Full field enumeration supported by registers 10
- Full field enumeration plus annual sample survey 1
- Rolling census 1
Register based census – 9 countries (3 in 2000)
- Only registers used 6
- Registers plus existing sample survey data 3
Combined methodology – 10 countries (6 in 2000)
-
Registers plus full field enumeration for selected topics 4
Registers plus sample field data for selected topics 5
Core topics in the UNECE Region
• Place of usual residence
• Locality
• Sex
• Age
• Legal (de jure) marital status
• Current activity status
• Workplace
• Occupation
• Industry
• Employment status
• Educational attainment
• Country/place of birth
• Country of citizenship
• Ever resided abroad
• Year of arrival from abroad
• Previous place of usual residence
• Date of arrival from previous usual residence
• Relationship between household members
• Household status
• Type of household
• Size of household
not asked in survey
82%
100%
100%
92%
96%
92%
96%
96%
98%
98%
98%
98%
75%
100%
86%
67%
98%
84%
96%
not asked in survey
Core topics in the UNECE Region
• Family status
• Type of family nucleus
• Size of family nucleus
• Tenure status (of household)
• Housing arrangement
• Type of living quarters
• Location of living quarters
• Occupancy status
• Type of ownership
• Number of occupants
• Useful floor space/Number of rooms
• Density standard
• Water supply system
• Toilet facilities
• Bathing facilities
• Type of heating
• Type of building
• Period of construction
86%
86%
not asked in survey
94%
92%
92%
100%
86%
96%
not asked in survey
84/92%
80/57%
78%
82%
86%
92%
86%
94%
Non core topics in the UNECE Region
• Urban/rural status
• Location of place of education
• Mode of transport to work/place of education
• Distance travelled to work/place of education
• Time taken to travel to work/place of education
• De facto marital status
• Children born alive
• Date(s) of first/current marriage
• Date(s) of first/current consensual union
• Usual activity status
• Unpaid/voluntary work
• Type of sector (institutional unit)
• Informal employment status
• Type of place of work
• Time usually worked
• Time-related unemployment
• Duration of unemployment
• Size of workforce at workplace
• Main source of livelihood
• Income
• Socio-economic group
92%
44%
45/33%
15/13%
29/25%
84%
69%
14/24%
2/12%
12%
6%
12%
4%
27%
29%
2%
18%
15%
42%
12%
27%
Non core topics in the UNECE Region
• Education qualifications
• Field of study
• School attendance
• Literacy
• Computer literacy
• Country of previous usual residence
• Total duration of residence in the country
• 5-year migration
• Reason for migration
• Country of birth of parent(s)
• Citizenship acquisition
• Foreign background
• Population relevant to international migration
• Refugee background
• Internally displaced persons
• Ethnicity
• Language
• Religion
• Disability status
33%
40%
69%
49%
18%
62%
20%
22%
37%
16%
14%
not asked in survey
not asked in survey
not asked un survey
not asked in survey
63%
71%
55%
67%
Non core topics in the UNECE Region
• Same-sex partnerships
not asked in survey
• Extended family status
not asked in survey
• Type of reconstituted family
not asked in survey
• Generational composition of household
not asked in survey
• Single or shared occupancy
43%
• Rent
29%
• Durable consumer goods
12%
• Car availability
27%
• Car parking
18%
• Telephone/internet connection
29/43%
• Own account agricultural production (household)
20%
• Agricultural work
8%
• Unoccupied dwellings
86%
• Multi-occupancy
48%
• Type of rooms
16%
• Kitchen
52%
• Cooking facilities
12%
• Hot water
48%
• Type of sewage disposal system
44%
• Main type of energy for heating
58%
Non core topics in the UNECE Region
• Availability of electricity
• Availability of piped gas
• Air-conditioning
• Position of dwelling in building
• Accessibility to dwelling
• Lift
• Number of floors in building
• Construction materials
• State of repair
38%
38%
22%
30%
8%
24%
44%
36%
14%
Summary of main proposals for possible
changes to the CES Recommendations
Methodology
• More emphasis on the use of administrative registers and
multi-modal approach to data collection
• An closer examination of the benefits and disadvantages of
the different methodologies
Technology
• More focus on GIS
• Benefits of OCR/OMR to be re-assessed
Cost and benefits
• New chapter
• Costs of different methodologies to be compared
• The value of cost-benefit analysis to be stressed
Documentation, metadata and archiving
• The importance of keeping good records and an audit trail
• The value of census records as a source of socio-historical
data
Summary of main proposals for possible
changes to the CES Recommendations
Quality and coverage
•Consolidate separate sections of the 2010
Recommendations into a single chapter
• Specific recommendations proposed:
- Accuracy should be measured (by whatever method
the country deems appropriate)
- Accuracy measurements and methods should be published
- Whatever method chosen should result in a comparable set of output-oriented
quantitative indicators
- An adjusted national total population estimate should be published
- At the national level countries should aim to publish statistics that are accurate to within
x% of the (unknown) true value - Not supported
Outsourcing
• The importance of good project management skills and knowledge of procurement to be
stressed
• The cheapest option is not always the best
• Specific areas to be identified
• More aligned with global recommendations, with particular emphasis on the need to:
- protect confidentiality
- gain public confidence
- ensure data quality
What about Big Data?
Summary of main proposals for possible
changes to the CES Recommendations
Communication/Publicity
• Still important for register-based censuses
• Use of social media to be considered
Population bases
• A more detailed exposition of ‘usual residence’
Geographic characteristics
• Urban/rural area to be a core (derived) topic
• Degree of urbanization
• Classification of place of work
• New classification of mode of transport
Demographic characteristics
• De facto vs de jure marital status
• Should de facto marital status be a core topic?
• Should the use of a mixed classification of de jure and de facto
marital status be discouraged explicitly?
• Should ‘consensual union’ and ‘registered partnership’ be
distinguished in the typology of family nuclei?
• Should more focus be put on reconstituted families?
• More focus on same sex unions be included as a non-core topic?
Summary of main proposals for possible
changes to the CES Recommendations
Migration
• More clearly distinguish topics related to international
and internal migration
• More clarity on the concept of year of arrival
• Is there a case for promoting ‘country of previous
residence
abroad’ and ‘reason for migration’ to core status?
• Recognition of value (but difficulty) of collecting
information
on ‘emigration’
• Consider ‘circular migration’ as a new topic
Ethno-cultural characteristics
• Importance of consultation community leaders and
organisation to be stressed
• Put ‘No religion’ response category first
• Should ‘language’ be a core topic and should a
classification be recommended?
• Consider recommending the ‘Prefer not to answer’
approach to voluntary questions.
Summary of main proposals for possible
changes to the CES Recommendations
Economic characteristics
• Possible changes to ‘activity status’ classification
• Possible changes to ‘employment status’ classification
• Need to conform to any new ILO recommendations
(such as the recognition of voluntary work as an activity
status)
• Difficulties with reconciling outputs from administrative
and statistical data sources
Housing
• Treatment of ‘semi-independent’ housing as private or
institutional
• More focus on homelessness – but is this a housing or
population base issue?
• ‘Usable floor space’ vs ‘Number of rooms’
• Is a definition a room necessary?
• Some core topics are no longer relevant (such as water
supply and bathing facilities)
• Proposal to modify ‘occupancy status’ and ‘type of
building’ classifications
• Focus of new ‘green’ topics such as use of solar or
thermal energy
Summary of main proposals for possible
changes to the CES Recommendations
Dissemination
• 2010 Recommendations to be expanded to cover
- Microdata
- New media
- Data visualisation
- Value added products and mash-ups
Timetable for the 2020 CES Recommendations
• 1st Draft of 2020 Recommendations submitted
to Steering Group February 2014
• 2nd Draft prepared by June 2014 to be
discussed at UNECE/Eurostat meeting
September 2014
• Final Draft by December 2014 to be discussed
by CES Bureau February 2015
• Adoption by CES at June 2015 Plenary
Session
• Electronic version posted in July 2015
• Hard copy published end 2015
• Harmonization with global recommendations important
• Impact on 2020 EU Census legislation
Timetable for the 2020 CES Recommendations
• 1st Draft of 2020 Recommendations submitted
to Steering Group February 2014
• 2nd Draft prepared by June 2014 to be
discussed at UNECE/Eurostat meeting
September 2014
• Final Draft by December 2014 to be discussed
by CES Bureau February 2015
• Adoption by CES at June 2015 Plenary
Session
• Electronic version posted in July 2015
• Hard copy published end 2015
• Harmonization with global recommendations important
• Impact on 2020 EU Census legislation
THANK YOU