Description: Provisional Programme Concept note (English | 中文) Self-Assessment Tool on the Readiness to Use Administrative Data for Census (SATRAC) (Excel file) Objectives and Outcomes The workshop aims to strengthen participants’ capacity on how to better use administrative data to support the census. The objectives of the workshop are to: Provide an overview of the different potential uses of administrative data sources for the census. Discuss the concepts, features, preconditions, considerations, challenges, opportunities, and processes involved in the use of administrative data sources for census purposes. Discuss the self-assessment tool on the readiness to use administrative data for census purposes. Introduce the “Generic model for the transition from a traditional census to register-based approaches”. Draft potential approaches to increase the use of administrative data for censuses in participating countries. Exchange experience and learn from participating countries. Resources This workshop builds upon the Regional Training Workshop on Transition to Register-based Approaches for Population and Housing Censuses. Some of the key resources for this workshop include: UNFPA Register-Based Census eLearning Course United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. Guidelines on the use of registers and administrative data for population and housing censuses. United Nations, New York and Geneva, 2018. United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. Guidelines for assessing the quality of administrative sources for use in censuses. United Nations, Geneva, 2021. United Nations Statistics Division. Handbook on Registers-Based Population and Housing Censuses, 2022. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. Emerging Trends in Census Approaches in Asia and the Pacific – with country examples. United Nations, Bangkok, 2022. ESCAP Stats Briefs: Tapping into administrative data in census-taking: an emerging trend in Asia and the Pacific (2022) Are population censuses in Asia and the Pacific evolving? (2021) Population registers: a key resource for producing vital statistics (2020)
Description: The webinar of the sprint will take a deep dive into Statistics Canada's framework for housing statistics, while also addressing the question of why housing data matters from the point of view of policy makers and other users. <br><br> Registration
Description: The Second United Nations Expert Group Meeting on the Revision of the Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses is organized by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) in New York from 13 to 15 December 2023. The main objective of the Expert Group meeting is to review the draft version of the Principles and Recommendations for the 2030 round. The Expert Group, which was established for the purpose of overseeing the revision of the Principles and Recommendations, held its first meeting virtually from 23 to 25 May 2023. The Expert Group set up seven Task Teams — corresponding to seven themes identified by the Expert Group as critical for the revision — to carry out the work of revising components of the publication. The meeting will review the draft version of the Principles and Recommendations with a view to bringing it in line with good practices and contemporary approaches to conducting population and housing censuses. A multitude of changes have been documented in the current census round pertaining to the use of technologies, adoption of multi-modal data collection, and utilization of administrative data sources. Many countries had to innovate to overcome the challenges of conducting censuses during the global COVID-19 pandemic. As a reference publication, the revised Principles and Recommendations will reflect the innovations made and the experiences collected thus far and provide comprehensive guidance to national statistical authorities for planning, organizing, conducting, and utilizing 2030 round population and housing censuses. It is expected that the next revision of the Principles and Recommendations will be submitted for endorsement by the Statistical Commission at its 56th session in 2025.
Description: The Expert Group Meeting on the Synergies between Census, CRVS Systems and Administrative Records: Implications for the 4th revision to the UN Principles and Recommendations on Population and Housing Censuses is co-organized by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The meeting is to be held in New York from 11 to 12 December 2023. The expert group meeting will bring together experts from National Statistics Offices, CRVS Systems, and international organizations to review insights, experiences and lessons from recent census rounds and ongoing efforts to strengthen CRVS systems. The objective of the expert group meeting is to synthesize lessons and insights from recent census and CRVS efforts to guide the updating of the UN Principles and Recommendations on Population and Housing Censuses (Revision 4) in the following areas: i) the assessment of the completeness and quality of vital event registration data and identity management system data using census data; ii) the leveraging of administrative records from CRVS systems and related administrative registers for the production of census operations and census data; and, iii) the use of censuses to measure human mobility including international migration, internal displacement and refugee stocks and flows.
Description: UNSD convened the 3rd virtual meeting of the Task Team 1 of the Revision of the Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses (P&R), on 12 October 2023. The Task Team 1, chaired by Statistics Canada, carries out the work of revising the portion of the Principles and Recommendations pertaining to census planning, organizing and management. The Task Team members went through the substantial revisions and new elaborations to be made to specific chapters and sections of the P&R, including, among others, the guidance on risk management and emergency planning (e.g., for censuses conducted during pandemics such as the recent global COVID-19 pandemic or natural disasters) as well as potential threats and possible consequences related to, for example, use of online questionnaire and the adoption of new technology.
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Geospatial Data for Human Settlements and Population Censuses
Description: On 10 July 2023, the Demographic and Social Statistics Branch organized a hybrid meeting on the above topic, in collaboration with the European Commission Joint Research Center, Eurostat and UN-Habitat. The meeting discussed the Degree of Urbanisation-DEGURBA method as a geospatial approach to the definition of cities, urban and rural areas in a harmonised manner across countries, which is particularly important for monitoring SDG 11 indicators on “Sustainable Cities and Communities”. The method was endorsed by the UN Statistical Commission in 2020, for international and regional comparison purposes. UN-Habitat, European Commission and UNSD are working towards building member states’ capacity for the implementation of this methodology as recommended by the Statistical Commission. Discussants from the Statistics Division, UNFPA and Eurostat exchanged lessons learned and the progress made in building capacity on the methodology. Data experts from UN-Habitat and the Joint Research Centre presented with examples how geospatial data are used to monitor human settlements and support census activities. Overall, the meeting highlighted the power of geospatial information to assess the urbanisation process and contribute to the localisation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Description: The first Expert Group Meeting on the Revision of the Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses is organized by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) in a virtual format. The Expert Group will thoroughly review the existing version of the Principles and Recommendations with a view to bringing it in line with good practices and contemporary approaches to conducting censuses. A multitude of changes have been documented in the current census round pertaining to the use of technologies, adoption of multi-modal data collection, and utilization of administrative data sources. Many countries had to innovate to overcome the challenges of conducting censuses during the global COVID-19 pandemic. As a reference publication, the revised Principles and Recommendations should reflect the innovations made and the experiences collected thus far and provide comprehensive guidance to national statistical authorities for planning, organizing, conducting, and utilizing 2030 round population and housing censuses.
Description: The third Expert Group Meeting aims to continue monitoring the challenges in conducting population and housing censuses during the pandemic. In addition, on day two, the meeting will cover data quality issues that may have arisen due to conducting the census during a pandemic and potential methods to address data quality concerns. Day three of the meeting will provide an opportunity to take a broader approach and discuss lessons learned from conducting censuses during times of crisis and provide recommendations for improving the resilience of future censuses conducted. It is likely that future census operations will have to contend increasing uncertainty due to natural disasters, health emergencies, political instability, or other unforeseen disruptive events. None of these events can be predicted in advance, but contingency planning for the unexpected will be a vital component of delivering a successful census going forward into the 2030 round.
Description: The United Nations Regional Workshop on the 2020 World Programme for Population and Housing Censuses for Arabic-speaking Countries is organized by UNSD in collaboration with the UNFPA Arab States Regional Office, the United Nations Economic Commission for Central and Western Asia (ESCWA), and the Arab Institute for Training and Research on Statistics (AITRS). The workshop aims to help Arabic-speaking countries in achieving a common and enhanced understanding of international recommendations and standards on quality assurance in population and housing censuses, the impact, and challenges of conducting a population and housing census during the COVID-19 pandemic and other crisis situations, and the necessary preconditions and the challenges of transitioning to a registers-based census. The workshop will also provide a platform to discuss the experience, challenges, and good practices available among Arabic-speaking countries in census-taking during the 2020 census round. The Workshop will bring together census managers and experts from national statistical offices, census agencies, international and regional organizations to exchange views and experience on the three interrelated themes of the workshop. The workshop will be held in English. Simultaneous interpretation in Arabic and vice-versa will be provided.
Description: The objective of the workshop is to build participants’ knowledge and skills in the use of register-based censuses to produce official statistics as an alternative to the traditional censuswhile also providing a platform for exchanging experiences and lessons learnt in transitioning to this approach.
Organizer(s): United Nations Network of Economic Statisticians
Description: The third meeting will focus on gathering inputs from participants on the proposed next steps for improving the international comparability and quality of national CPIs, including the services costs of owner-occupied housing. Additionally, there will be a presentation on the work that Statistics South Africa has been doing to measure these costs in its CPI.
Organizer(s): United Nations Network of Economic Statisticians
Description: The second meeting will focus on the European Union experience in measuring owner occupied housing (OOH) costs in the consumer price index (CPI), including the development of a harmonized index. Additionally, the plenary session will discuss the key elements that should become part of a set of non-binding recommendations (to be developed in the third meeting) for compiling the OOH costs in the CPI.
Description: Within the framework of its Webinar Series on Statistical Experience Sharing, SESRIC will organise a Webinar on ‘2020 Round of Population & Housing Censuses: Census Editing & Validation’ on 7 September 2022, in collaboration with the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) with the participation of official statisticians working in National Statistical Offices (NSOs) of the OIC member countries. The main objective of this Webinar is to facilitate a platform to introduce the UN Handbook on Population and Housing Censuses Editing (Revision 2) while focusing on editing procedures for censuses conducted with electronic questionnaires as well as the assessment of the quality of the editing process and validation of census data. The Webinar will cover: UN Handbook on Population and Housing Censuses Editing (Revision 2) Editing in Censuses & Surveys Use of Electronic Data Collection Technologies in Censuses Quality Assurance & Assessment of the Quality of the Process Experiences of OIC Countries in Census Editing & Validation Document: Concept Note and Work Programme (English)
Description: The first meeting of the Measurement of Inflation of Owner-Occupied Housing in the CPI Sprint of the United Nations Network of Economic Statisticians will present an overview of the various methods employed in the measurement of the owner-occupied housing services costs in the CPI. It will be complemented by specific country experiences and users’ perspective.
Description: The United Nations Regional Workshop on the 2020 World Population and Housing Censuses: International Standards and Contemporary Technologies is organized by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) for French-speaking African countries. The workshop is conducted in French and English and in a virtual format. The objective of the workshop is to introduce three of UNSD's latest international guidelines on population and housing censuses—the <em>Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses, Revision 3, the Handbook on the Management of Population and Housing Censuses, Revision 2, and the Guidelines on the Use of Electronic Data Collection Technologies in Population and Housing Censuses</em>—and the standards, concepts and methods contained therein with a view to facilitate planning and preparations for the 2020 round of population and housing censuses. The workshop also provides an opportunity to discuss the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on conducting 2020 round of population and housing censuses and possible modifications in census procedures
Description: The Expert Group Meeting on the Draft Handbook on Registers-Based Population and Housing Censuses is organized by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) in a virtual format, with the aim of reviewing the draft handbook and providing input and guidance on the content of the draft handbook. The purpose of this handbook is to strengthen the capacity of national statistical offices and census agencies on the process of transitioning from the traditional census methodology to other approaches involving the use of administrative registers and/or sources. This handbook also aims to elaborate on the key considerations and requirements for transitioning from the traditional census to other census methodologies, and on the importance of building institutional capacity and infrastructure for maintaining statistical registers. Once finalized, this handbook will become a component of the United Nations methodological framework for population and housing censuses in the 2020 round, anchored by the UN principles and recommendations for population and housing censuses, and consisting of handbooks on census management, census editing, use of contemporary technologies for census-taking, measuring migration and post-enumeration surveys – all available at: https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic-social/census/index.cshtml.
Description: This is a side-event of the Eleventh meeting of the Statistical Conference of the Americas of ECLAC, organized by CELADE-Population Division of ECLAC and the National Statistical Institute of Chile.
2021 ICP for Asia and the Pacific - Seventh Regional Online Workshop: Technical Evaluation and Review of Housing Rental and Discussion of Housing Volume Concepts
Description: The Second United Nations Expert Group Meeting on the Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Conducting Population and Housing Censuses and on Census Data Quality Concerns is organized by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) with the aim of continuing the monitoring of challenges in conducting population and housing censuses during the Covid-19 pandemic. The meeting will provide an opportunity to discuss alternative solutions in designing census operations conducted during the pandemic as well as address data quality and comparability issues resulting from pandemic protocols and recent changes in the design of census operations. The meeting will address the following four main topics: i) potential adjustments in census questionnaires to improve the relevance and quality of census data; ii) innovative approaches in designing census operations for reducing the adverse impact of the pandemic; iii) assessment of the quality of population and housing censuses concerning the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on process quality and output quality; and, iv) effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on data analysis and comparability overtime. The meeting will bring together census experts from NSOs, census agencies, international and regional organizations to explore challenges, good practices and lessons learned in conducting censuses during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Description: Population and housing censuses provide fundamental information for development planning including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, on the size, growth, distribution, geographical location and characteristics of the population. Censuses also provide data on various statistical areas related to population and housing, disaggregated by small geographic areas, population groups, minorities, and various demographic and social characteristics such as gender, age, education, migration, labor force, and people with disabilities. In recent decades, most countries have conducted at least one population census. In the Arab region, during the past six years, Egypt, the Emirates of Sharjah and Ajman in the UAE, Jordan and the State of Palestine have conducted a successful census using modern technology, whereas other countries such as Algeria, Iraq and Sudan are undertaking activities in planning for the coming census. Noting that the Gulf Cooperation Council countries are planning to implement register-based censuses in 2020 census round. The implementation of censuses in other countries such as Yemen, Libya, Somalia, Lebanon and Syria remains subject to security and political conditions. Despite the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar have carried out register-based censuses, and Oman Census 2020 is the first census that is fully based on registers, noting that Bahrain conducted a census in the 2010 round that was based partly on registers and partly on the traditional methodology (face-to-face) and the use of self-enumeration using the Internet and the phone, while other countries postponed their censuses for the coming years, with the continued spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. To review the progress made and promote the undertaking of censuses being planned or hindered, the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), in cooperation with the Regional Office of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Gulf Cooperation Council Statistical Centre (GCC-Stat), and the Arab Institute for Training and Research in Statistic (AITRS), is organizing a “Regional Workshop on the 2020 round of Population and Housing Census: Monitoring progress and the way forward” The workshop aims to review the population and housing censuses that have been implemented and the progress made in countries planning their upcoming censuses, as well as to benefit from regional experiences and good practices in undertaking 2020 census round and the importance of regional cooperation; and to discuss ways to expedite the undertaking of 2020 round of censuses in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The workshop will also discuss obstacles in undertaking censuses in some countries, including scenarios for their implementation and ways of providing technical support and mobilizing financial resources (if possible). All related presentations can be found on the Arabic link of the webpage.
Title in Arabic: رصد التقدم المحرز وسبل المضي قدما في جولة تعدادات السكان والمساكن 2020
Organizer(s): ESCWA UNFPA AITRS GCC Stat
Description: توفر تعدادات السكان والمساكن معلومات أساسية للتخطيط التنموي، بما في ذلك خطة التنمية المستدامة لعام 2030، حيث تتضمن بيانات عن حجم السكان ونموهم وتوزعهم وموقعهم الجغرافي والمكاني وخصائصهم المختلفة وغيرها. كما توفر التعدادات بيانات عن مختلف المجالات الإحصائية المتصلة بالسكان والإسكان، مصنّفة حسب المناطق الجغرافية الصغيرة والتجمعات السكانية والأقليات ومختلف الخصائص السكانية والاجتماعية مثل الجنس والعمر والتعليم والهجرة والقوى العاملة والأشخاص ذوي الإعاقات. وخلال العقود الأخيرة، أجرت غالبية البلدان تعداداً سكانياً واحداً على الأقل.
Description: SESRIC will organise a Workshop on ‘Use of Administrative Registers for Population and Housing Censuses’ in collaboration with the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) on 29-30 June 2021 through a video conferencing platform with the participation of NSOs of OIC member countries. The Workshop aims to focus on key considerations and requirements for transitioning from traditional census to alternative census methodologies involving the use of administrative registers and building institutional capacity and infrastructure for maintaining statistical registers for successful implementation of population and housing censuses. The Workshop will cover the following topics: Necessary conditions for the use of administrative registers for population and housing censuses Establishing base registers for transitioning to a combined or register-based census Building comprehensive and reliable statistical registers for censuses and for combining with survey data Evaluation of the quality of data and communication with register-owners to improve the quality Documents: Concept Note (English) (Arabic) (French)
Description: The United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) organized the United Nations Expert Group Meeting on the Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Conducting Population and Housing Censuses and on Census Data Quality Concerns, took place online from 9 to 12 February 2021. The Expert Group Meeting had extensive discussions on major changes in the design of census activities in response to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and challenges in producing timely, accurate and reliable small area statistics during the pandemic. The meeting also addressed data quality issues caused by the pandemic protocols and recent changes in the design of census operation and discussed potential challenges in comparing the results of censuses conducted during the pandemic with the results of previous censuses.
Description: The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) organized virtual workshops to discuss benefits and challenges of utilising PHC and CRVS data in monitoring SDGs. Two rounds of identical workshops were delivered on: Round 1: 27-30 October, 07:00-10:00 a.m. (Bangkok time). Round 2: 3-6 November, 11:00 a.m.-14:00 p.m. (Bangkok time). The workshops also provided a platform to further elaborate on utilising PHC and CRVS statistics for disaggregating SDG indicators and discuss the use of geospatial information and tools for generating relevant SDG indicators from CRVS and census data. Ultimately the workshops would help to achieve a common and improved understanding of definitions and method of computation of SDG indicators. The following issues were discussed during the workshops: SDG indicators that can be directly measured or estimated approximately using existing census or CRVS data based on the internationally recommended topics; Challenges related to the use of census and CRVS data for the measurement of indicators and analytical strategies to mitigate or overcome those challenges; Advantages of census and CRVS data for the disaggregation of the SDG indicators and, where applicable, some of the precautions needing to be addressed; Geospatial information and tools for generating and disaggregating SDG indicators using census data.
Description: The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) are organizing virtual workshops to discuss benefits and challenges of utilising PHC and CRVS data in monitoring SDGs. Two rounds of identical workshops will be delivered on: Round 1: 27-30 October, 07:00-10:00 a.m. (Bangkok time). Round 2: 3-6 November, 11:00 a.m.-14:00 p.m. (Bangkok time). The workshops will also provide a platform to further elaborate on utilising PHC and CRVS statistics for disaggregating SDG indicators and discuss the use of geospatial information and tools for generating relevant SDG indicators from CRVS and census data. Ultimately the workshops will help to achieve a common and improved understanding of definitions and method of computation of SDG indicators. The following issues will be discussed during the workshops: SDG indicators that can be directly measured or estimated approximately using existing census or CRVS data based on the internationally recommended topics; Challenges related to the use of census and CRVS data for the measurement of indicators and analytical strategies to mitigate or overcome those challenges; Advantages of census and CRVS data for the disaggregation of the SDG indicators and, where applicable, some of the precautions needing to be addressed; Geospatial information and tools for generating and disaggregating SDG indicators using census data.
Topics:
Original webpage was deleted, archived version from the Internet Archive (not a UN service): Link
Title in Arabic: تعزيز القدرة الجغرافية المكانية في تعدادات السكان والمساكن للبلدان العربية
Organizer(s): AITRS UNFPA ESCWA
Description: يعتبر التعداد العام للسكان والمساكن أحد أكثر الأنشطة تعقيداً وضخامةً التي تقوم بها الدول في أوقات السلم. ويتطلب التعداد إعداداً كافياً من حيث الموارد البشرية، والتقنيات، والموازنة والأمور اللوجستية. ومهما يكن، فإن تقنيات التعداد تتغير بسرعة خاصة في المجال الجغرافي- الفضائي وتقنيات المعلومات والاتصال. فبعض التقنيات التي كانت متاحة واستعملت في دورة التعداد لعام 2010 أصبحت الآن قديمة، خاصة في مجال تقنيات المعلومات. وشهدت البيانات الجغرافية- المكانية بصورة خاصة عدة ابتكارات تكنولوجية، يمكن تطبيقها في دورة تعداد 2020 من أجل إنتاج بيانات من التعداد لها مرجعية جغرافية أكثر دقة وفي الوقت المناسب.
Description: Population and housing censuses have been used for centuries to provide a wide range on information at various disaggregated levels on population and housing units. They are regularly conducted in most countries and represent an important source for reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals as well as to inform policy decisions. However, given the scale and complexity of censuses, they are exposed to vulnerabilities at various stages, especially during mapping, enumerations and data processing. National Statistical Offices face a number of challenges in conducting population and housing censuses, including decreasing response rates, timely dissemination of results, and increasing data collection costs. Censuses, when combined with new technologies such as satellite remote-sensing data, smart mobile devices, GPS and mobile connectivity, present opportunities to improve how populations are counted and characterized with improved accuracy, coverage, and timeliness. The Guidelines on the Use of Electronic Data Collection Technologies in Population and Housing Censuses prepared by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) present some of the new data collection technologies that can be used to improve census coverage, data quality and timeliness of census results. The webinar is part of the UN World Data Forum webinar series. It will highlight the use of the new of technologies in the 2020 round of population and housing censuses and will provide an opportunity to learn from country practitioners and the international community about the successful use of contemporary methods in population and housing censuses in developing countries. Speakers Moderator: Rachel Snow, Branch Chief of Population and Development, UNFPA Panelist: Linda Peters, Global Business Development Manager, Esri Presentation Panelist: Amjad Harb, Director General of the Information Systems and Computer Directorate, Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) Presentation Panelist: Isaac Chirwa, Assistant Commissioner of Statistics, National Statistical Office of Malawi Presentation Speakers' bios
Description: The workshop is organized by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) in collaboration with Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC). This workshop aims to help countries in achieving a common and improved understanding of the process of adopting new technologies/methodologies in conducting population and housing censuses and collecting data according to internationally recommended definitions and classifications. This workshop will also provide a platform to discuss good practices among OIC member countries and potential challenges and risks that have to be taken into consideration for the successful adoption of contemporary technologies in censuses.
Description: The main objective of the Expert Group meeting is to review the revised Handbook on Population and Housing Census Editing and to provide further guidance on its content and structure with a view to ensuring that it provides countries with a reference document on contemporary census data editing methods and information on various approaches to census data editing. Specifically, the meeting aims to: (i) review the revised Handbook to ensure that it provides relevant guidance on editing procedures and processes for traditional census editing (editing after data collection) as well as for real-time editing (editing during data collection where tablet computers and the Internet are used) based on good country practices; (ii) align the revised Handbook with contemporary census practices, including the use of electronic data collection technologies; (iii) align the revised Handbook with the standards and methods contained in the recently revised Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses and Handbook on the Management of Population and Housing Censuses.
