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Report on the Results of a Survey on Census Methods used by Countries in the 2010 Census Round

admin — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 10:40:48 GMT

By United Nations Statistics Division, 2011.

In 2009 and early 2010, the United Nations conducted a survey to collect information on methods used by countries or areas in the planning and implementation of their 2010 round population and housing censuses. The survey also collected information on challenges that countries or areas faced or expect to face in the implementation of their censuses for the 2010 round as well as on aspects of the census process in which they may have expertise. The questionnaire used for conducting the survey had 28 questions seeking information on: (i) source of population and housing census data; (ii) cartography; (iii) method(s) of enumeration; (iv) census evaluation; (v) data processing; (vi) data dissemination; (vii) census budget and source of funding; and (viii) technical assistance required and areas of expertise. This report presents the main results of this survey.

[Working paper: UNSD/DSSB/1]

Census taking in Europe: how are populations counted in 2010?

admin — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 10:02:24 GMT

By Paolo Valente, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, 2010.

It is essential to count the population so that necessary levels of service provision for schools, transport,
healthcare, etc. can be determined in each municipality. But census taking is costly, and a growing
number of people are reluctant to participate. To address these problems, the industrialized countries have
developed new, less expensive methods based on existing data obtained from surveys and population
registers. This article describes the methods employed by European countries for the population censuses
scheduled in 2010 and beyond.

The Swiss Census 2010: Moving towards a comprehensive system of household and person statistics

Jan Beise — Thu, 27 May 2010 09:01:19 GMT

By the Swiss Federal Statistical Office, 2008.

This paper provides a brief overview of the ongoing conception of the
Swiss Census 2010 and the setup of a new integrated system of household and
person statistics. The Swiss Census that was held (almost) every 10 years from 1850
until 2000 will be modernized. It will be based on an annual register survey, an
annual structural survey of a large sample and five topic-based sample surveys
alternating every year and a small annual omnibus survey. The process design will
be organized along the EDIMBUS process model.

[Available in English and French]

Main results of the UNECE-UNSD survey on the 2010 round of population and houseing censuses

Jan Beise — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 07:04:46 GMT

By UNECE, 2009.

This report provides a general overview of the results of a world wide survey conducted by the United Nations Statistic Division (UNSD) in June 2009, to collect information on the national data collections for the 2010 World Programme on Population and Housing Censuses. This survey was conducted in cooperation with the UN Regional Commissions, including the UNECE for our region. The report is based on information provided by the 50 UNECE member countries who responded to the survey, together with 4 other territories and countries member of the Conference of European Statisticians located outside the UNECE Region.

Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses, Rev. 2

Jan Beise — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 06:05:21 GMT

By United Nations Statistics Division, 2008.

Since its earliest years, the United Nations has issued a series of international principles and recommendations on population and housing censuses to assist national statistical offices and census officials, throughout the world, in planning and carrying out improved and cost-effective censuses.

The Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses, Revision 2 is divided into three parts: Part One - Operational aspects of population and housing censuses – covers mainly issues of census planning and management; Part Two – Topics for population and housing censuses – includes topics as well as their definitions and classification for both population and housing; and Part Three – Census products and data utilizations – is aimed at enhancing the dissemination and utilization of census data. The publication also contains a set of recommended tabulations on population and housing that every country is should produce at least once during the 2010 census round. There are also additional tabulations that countries may produce depending on their needs.

Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses, Revision 2 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.07.XVII.8), 2008.

[available in English, Arabic, Russian]

Census Methodology of the 2000 Census in Mauritius

Jan Beise — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 08:38:14 GMT

By the Central Statistics Office, Republic of Mauritius, 2002.

The Central Statistics Office conducted a Housing and Population Census in year 2000.
Census 2000 was the seventeenth for the Island of Mauritius and the seventh for the
Island of Rodrigues. This documents describes in detail the methodology of the 2000 Census.

This document is Volume 1 of the Analytical Reports on the 2000 Population and Housing Census.

Methodology of the Hong Kong 2006 Population By-census

Jan Beise — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 06:10:36 GMT

By Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong, 2007.

The 2006 Population By-census wasconducted in July to August 2006. The By-censusprovides a wealth of data on the socio-economiccharacteristics of the population in Hong Kong, thusallowing studies to be undertaken on various facets ofthe community.

This report provides an overview on how the2006 Population By-census was conducted withdetailed descriptions on various aspects fromplanning, to data collection, processing anddissemination. It describes the design, data collection method,operation procedures and techniques of the By-census. It also includesan assessment of the data quality.

This document is Volume II of the two part "Main Report".Volume I presents detailed analysis and interpretation of the resultsof the 2006 Population By-census.

[In Chinese and English]

Accuracy evaluation of Nuts level 2 hypercubes with the adoption of a sampling strategy in the 2011 Italian Population Census

Jan Beise — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:31:00 GMT

By the National Institute of Statistics, Italy, 2009.

Italian National Institute of Statistics (Istat) is considering using sampling techniques in order to adopt a short/long form strategy for the 2011 Italian Population Census. The choice is based on a simple random design for the selection of private household samples from population registers and the calibrated estimators. Because the adoption of a sampling strategy causes the introduction of sampling errors, tests and studies have been conducted in order to evaluate the efficiency of sampling estimates and the accuracy of dissemination hypercubes.

The planning of the 2011 Italian Population Census has taken in account both the critical points of the last census and the possibility to introduce methodological innovations according to the international recommendations. In order to improve the efficiency of the survey operations, to reduce the workload of the municipalities and to minimize the statistical burden for the people involved in the enumeration, many solutions have been taken into consideration. The most important are related to the use of population registers, to a mailing for the census forms and to a mixed mode of data collection mainly based on mail and web.

Introducing sampling strategy in the next Census round implies not only savings and a smaller amount of data to be managed also provides an opportunity to improve the overall quality of data. It will be possible to set up and execute more checks on census forms and follows up in the field to reduce the non-sampling errors. Another advantage of the sampling strategy is improvements to the Census timeliness, which is a constraint since 2011 Census data have to be provided to Eurostat on 1 April 2014.

Paper presented at the joint UNECE/Eurostat meeting on Population and Housing Censuses, Geneva, 28-30 October 2009.

A new strategy for the 2011 Italian Population Census. Product innovations and the compliance with CES Recommendations

Jan Beise — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:04:00 GMT

By National Institute of Statistics, Italy, 2009.

A decennial population and housing census has been taken in Italy since 1861, based on the conventional methodology of complete field enumeration. All information was collected and processed on a complete basis. Only a long form was traditionally used and all the information collected was processed without making use of any sampling techniques.

For the 2011 census, a number of factors raised questions about the appropriateness of continuing to rely on the conventional methodology. A major change though only applying to the largest municipalities will be the use of sampling techniques for the collection of socio-economic information. This strategy implies a shift towards the production of estimations concerning the socio-economic set of variables included in EU Regulation. These estimations will be produced by using a long form for a sample of households. Two enumeration forms will be used in municipalities with 20,000 or more inhabitants (and in all provincial capitals): a short form, in order to collect data on the demographic features of the whole resident population, and a long form, designed for a sample of households and including demographic topics as well as socioeconomic variables.

Paper presented at the joint UNECE/Eurostat meeting on Population and Housing Censuses, Geneva, 28-30 October 2009.

Effective Control Systems in a Multimode Census Data Collection Methodology

Jan Beise — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 11:05:00 GMT

By Statistics Canada, 2009.

For most countries census data collection and its control has been largely a decentralized paper based operation. Enumerators listed dwellings and conducted interviews or dropped off questionnaires. They tracked response and did follow-up using their lists for control. However over the last couple of decades some national statistical offices (NSOs) have developed address registers to facilitate mailout methodologies. Furthermore, there has been rapid improvement in the availability, security, acceptance and use of Internet technologies by both NSOs and citizens. These factors have facilitated the introduction of multimodal census data collection methods that better address preferred response modes of different population groups.
This paper reviews the collection methodology of recent Canadian Censuses and discusses some of the lessons learned. It presents an overview of the 2011 Census data collection methodology and briefly describes the major strategies being taken for its control and management.

Paper presented at the 57th Session of the International Statistical Institute (ISI), Durban (South Africa), August 2009.

Experiences in Conducting the 2005 Population Census and Strategies for the 2010 Census of Japan

Jan Beise — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 05:43:00 GMT

Paper by Statistics Bureau of Japan

The paper presents the experiences in conducting the 2005 Population Census in Japan and the problems encountered. The failure to enumerate households directly may affect the accuracy not only of the results of the Census, but also of other related statistics. It is apparent that drastic measures should be taken to solve them. The Statistics Bureau of Japan set up a committee of academics and specialists on the Population Census of Japan in January 2006 to analyze the problems with the 2005 Census and their causes, and to improve the enumeration methodologies etc. for the 2010 Census. The report of the committee is summarized.

Paper presented at the 23rd Population Census Conference April 16-18, 2007, Christchurch, New Zealand.

American Community Survey: Accuracy of Data

Jan Beise — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 05:44:00 GMT

The purpose of this documentation by the US Census Bureau is to provide data users with a basic understanding of the American Community Survey (ACS) sample frame and design, estimation methodology, and accuracy of the ACS data. The document discusses sampling and nonsampling errors and gives examples of standard error calculations.

Register-based statistics in the Nordic countries - Review of best practices with focus on population and social statistics

Margaret Mbogoni — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 09:32:00 GMT

The Nordic countries have a long tradition in using administrative registers in the production of official statistics. They also have a long tradition in cooperating in the field of statistics. One of their common experiences is that the use of administrative records in censuses is the last step in a process that begins with producing statistics on different subject areas, depending on the type of registers available. By producing statistics on population or employment based on administrative data, they have learned about the influence the actual registers have on the quality of the statistics. After a period of testing and improvement, they realized that the quality of the administrative data was compatible with the quality recommended for censuses, and decided to also use the registers for census purposes. The time it takes from the establishment of an administrative register to having the quality data needed for census purposes may differ from one subject area to another. Nevertheless, the process is similar from subject area to subject area and from country to country. This also seems to be the case for establishing a statistical system based on register information.

In recent years, an increasing number of countries in the UNECE region are considering the possibility of producing statistics based on administrative registers. Therefore, the National Statistical Institutes (NSIs) of the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) decided to share their experience and knowledge with the international statistical community, by producing comprehensive documentation of their best practices. The objective of this volume is to give strategic and planning officers in the NSIs an understanding of what register-based statistics are, covering also the necessary technical and administrative capacity, and the possible applications of these methods to produce official statistics. The emphasis of the publication is on the use of administrative registers to produce demographic and social statistics.

Register-based statistics in the Nordic countries - Review of best practices with focus on population and social statistics (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.07.II.E.11), 2007

Conference of European Statisticians Recommendations for the 2010 Censuses of Population and Housing

Margaret Mbogoni — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 09:01:00 GMT

The main objectives of the CES Recommendations for the 2010 Round of Population and Housing Censuses are: ( i) to provide guidance and assistance to countries in the planning and conducting of their population and housing census; ( ii) to facilitate and improve the comparability of the data at regional level through the selection of a core set of census topics1 and the harmonization of definitions and classifications.

The first part of the publication (Part One) presents two chapters on census methodology and technology. The objective is not to recommend a specific method or a technology, but rather to present the different approaches with their advantages and disadvantages and guide countries to make the best choice that fits their national circumstances. These chapters are complemented by additional material presented in various appendices. The second and third parts of the publication present respectively population topics (Part Two) and housing topics (Part Three). The Recommendations aim to describe the different census topics that are relevant for the region presenting not only definitions and standards but also analyzing their relevance and their comparative advantage in relation to other census topics and other data collection activities outside the census. The topics are presented using a structure by theme (demographic, migration, ethno-cultural characteristics, etc.) to facilitate a broader view in the description of the content of a census.

Conference of European Statisticians Recommendations for the 2010 Censuses of Population and Housing (United Nations publication, ECE/CES/STAT/NONE/2006/4), New York and Geneva, 2006

[Also available in French and Russian]

Reengineering the US Census of Population and Housing

Jan Beise — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 06:41:00 GMT

This paper by the US Census Bureau describes the efforts to completely modernize and reengineer the 2010 Decennial Census Program. This reengineering effort is presented as having four major goals:

(a) improve the relevance and timeliness of census long-form data;
(b) reduce operational risk;
(c) improve the accuracy of census coverage; and
(d) contain costs.

The paper details three highly integrated activities on which the accomplishment of these goals are based: 1) the American Community Survey; 2) the Master Address File/Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) Enhancements Program; and 3) a multi-year program of comprehensive planning, development, and testing for a short form only 2010 Census.

Paper presented at the 2006 plenary session of the Conference of European Statisticians (CES) in Paris (13-15 June 2006).

Population and Housing Census on St. Helena

Jan Beise — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 06:25:00 GMT

The paper presents the experience from the 1998 census on St. Helena as well as plans and timetable for the 2007 census. It discusses some recommended core topics (based on the UN publication “Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses, Revision 2”) in the context of the housing census on St. Helena.

The paper was prepared in the context of the “United Nations Workshop on the 2010 World Programme on Population and Housing Censuses, Maputo, Mozambique, 30 October – 2 November 2006”.

Population and Housing Census in Thailand

Jan Beise — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 06:22:00 GMT

This paper by Jirawan Boonperm of the National Statistical Office, Bangkok, Thailand, presents experience from the 2000 census of Thailand, including problems encountered.

Paper presented at the ASEAN Meeting on the 2010 round of Population and Housing Census, Siem Reap (Cambodia), 31 July - 2 August 2006.

Population and Housing Census in Viet Nam

Jan Beise — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 06:20:00 GMT

The paper presents experience from the 1999 census of Viet Nam, including strong and weak points.

Paper presented at the ASEAN Meeting on the 2010 round of Population and Housing Census, Siem Reap (Cambodia), 31 July - 2 August 2006.

The 2011 Census: A Design for England and Wales

Jan Beise — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 04:55:00 GMT

This paper by the United Kingdom Office for National Statistics discusses the proposed design for a 2011 Census in England and Wales, drawing on the experiences and lessons learned from the 2001 Census, current world best practice, and the opportunities arising from electronic data capture and other changes in available technology. The paper also examines potential benefits and risks of the proposed design.

Paper presented at the United Nations Symposium on Population and Housing Censuses, New York, 13-14 September 2004.

Population and Housing Censuses in the UNESCAP region

Jan Beise — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 07:22:00 GMT

This paper by Lene Mikkelsen of the United Nations Economic and Social Commissionfor Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) describes the experience of countries in the region with regard to the 2000 round of censuses as well as plans for the next round. The paper is based on a survey conducted by UNESCAP in preparation of the 2010 World Programme on Population and Housing Censuses to assess meta information and plans with regard to censuses in the Asia-Pacific region.

Paper presented at the United Nations Symposium on Population and Housing Censuses, New York, 13-14 September 2004.

Population and Housing Census in Jamaica

Jan Beise — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 06:57:00 GMT

This paper by Valerie Nam of the Statistical Institute of Jamaica presents the experiences from the 2000 census decade.

Paper presented at the United Nations Symposium on Population and Housing Censuses, New York, 13-14 September 2004.

Record matching for census purposes in the Netherlands

Jan Beise — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 04:49:00 GMT

This paper by Statistics Netherlands deals with special requirements of the "Virtual Census" in the Netherlands. Tables for the 2001 Dutch Virtual Census were obtained by combining data from a wide variety of administrative registers and sample surveys, and not by interviewing inhabitants through a complete enumeration. The article provides detailed information on how records from the different registers as well as from the sample surveys are linked and the methodological adjustments carried out to obtain the statistical tables.The acquired experience in dealing with data of various administrative registers for statistical use enabled Statistics Netherlands to develop a Social Statistical Database (SSD), which contains coherent and detailed demographic and socio-economic statistical information on persons and households.

Paper presented at the Joint UNECE-Eurostat Expert Group Meeting on the Implementation of the CES Census Recommendations for Register-Based Censuses Astana (Kazakhstan), 7-8 June 2007.

[available also in Russian]

The National Register of Buildings and Dwellings in Switzerland and its role in the future housing census

Jan Beise — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 11:24:00 GMT

This paper by Fritz Gebhard (Federal Statistical Office, Switzerland) describes the process of developing a functional registers of buildings and dwellings in Switzerland. This register constitutes the data foundation of the future register-based housing census. Information that has traditionally been collected through a housing census by use of questionnaires will now be obtained from the registers.

Paper presented at the Seminar on 'Registers in Statistics - methodology and quality' hosted by Statistics Finland, Helsinki, Finland (21-23 May 2007).

Opportunities and Challenges of a Register-Based Census of Population and Housing – the Case of Slovenia

Jan Beise — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 11:17:00 GMT

This paper by Apolonija Oblak Flander (Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia) discusses opportunities and challenges of the 2011 census in Slovenia.This census will be the first completely register-based population and housing census in Slovenia.

Paper presented at the Seminar on 'Registers in Statistics - methodology and quality' hosted by Statistics Finland, Helsinki, Finland (21-23 May 2007).

The first register-based Census in Norway in 2011: How to comply with international recommendations?

Jan Beise — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 11:10:00 GMT

This paper by Espen Andersen and Harald Utne (Statistics Norway) discusses implications of the 2011 census in Norway. This census is expected to be totally register-based, using data from administrative registers. The paper presents some of the challenges that are likely to be faced by Norway in terms of complying with international census recommendations and discusses the necessary improvements.

Paper presented at the Seminar on 'Registers in Statistics - methodology and quality' hosted by Statistics Finland, Helsinki, Finland (21-23 May 2007).