Population and housing censuses

PURPOSE: to establish common rules for the decennial provision of comprehensive data on population and on housing.

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Regulation (EC) No 763/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on population and housing censuses

CONTENT: this Regulation establishes common rules for the decennial provision of comprehensive data on population and housing. Periodic statistical data on the population and the main family, social, economic and housing characteristics of persons are necessary for the study and definition of regional, social and environmental EU policies. In particular, there is a need to collect detailed information on housing in support of various Community activities, such as the promotion of social inclusion and the monitoring of social cohesion at regional level, or the protection of the environment and the promotion of energy efficiency.

Data submission: Member States must submit to the Commission (Eurostat) data on the population covering determined demographic, social and economic characteristics of persons, families and households, as well as on housing at a national, regional and local level, as set out in the Annex.

Data sources: the Regulation sets out the data sources on which Member States must base their statistics. They include: conventional censuses; register-based censuses; a combination of conventional censuses and sample surveys; a combination of register-based censuses and sample surveys; a combination of register-based censuses and conventional censuses; a combination of register-based censuses, sample surveys and conventional censuses; and appropriate surveys with rotating samples (rolling censuses).

Member States shall take all measures necessary to meet the requirements of data protection. The Member States' own data protection provisions shall not be affected by this Regulation. They must inform the Commission (Eurostat) of any revision or correction of the statistics supplied under this Regulation, as well as of any changes in the chosen data sources and methodology, no later than one month before the release of the revised data. Member States will ensure that the data sources and the methodology used to satisfy the requirements of the Regulation meet, to the highest possible extent, the essential features of population and housing censuses, as defined in the text. They shall make continuous efforts to enhance compliance with those essential features.

Data quality: Member States must provide Eurostat with a report on the quality of the data transmitted. In this context, they will report on the extent to which the chosen data sources and methodology meet the essential features of population and housing censuses. In applying the quality assessment dimensions laid down in the text to the data covered by this Regulation, the modalities and structure of the quality reports will be defined in accordance with the regulatory procedure. The Commission will assess the quality of the data transmitted. In cooperation with the competent authorities of the Member States, the Commission will provide methodological recommendations designed to ensure the quality of the data and metadata produced, acknowledging, in particular, the Conference of European Statisticians Recommendations for the 2010 Censuses of Population and Housing.

Reference date: each Member State shall determine a date to which its data refer (a reference date). The reference date shall fall in a year specified on the basis of the Regulation (reference year). The first reference year shall be 2011. The Commission shall establish subsequent reference years in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny. Reference years shall fall during the beginning of every decade. Member States shall provide the Commission (Eurostat) with final, validated and aggregated data and metadata within 27 months of the end of the reference year. The Commission will adopt a programme of the statistical data and of the metadata to be transmitted to fulfil the requirements of this Regulation, in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny.

ENTRY INTO FORCE: 02/09/2008.