The United Nations Statistics Division is responsible for collecting official national statistics on housing stock and housing conditions generated from population and housing censuses. In 2005 the United Nations Statistics Division will initiate a systematic and regular collection of basic statistics on housing by introducing a housing statistics questionnaire in the existing Demographic Yearbook data collection system. The United Nations Statistics Division is currently testing this questionnaire (PDF 215 kB).

Until recently official statistics on housing were collected by the United Nations Statistics Division a quinquennial basis through the Human Settlement Statistics Questionnaire in collaboration with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT). The most recent questionnaires were sent to countries and areas in 1992 and 1999. The results of this data collection were published in the 1995 Compendium of Human Settlement Statistics and 2001 Compendium of Human Settlement Statistics.

The most recent technical reports review the collection and dissemination of data on household characteristics, living arrangements and homeless households within the Demographic Yearbook.