European demographic statistics

PURPOSE: to establish a common legal framework for the systematic development of European demographic statistics in the Member States.

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 of the European Parliament and Council on European demographic statistics.

CONTENT: the Regulation establishes a common framework for the systematic development of European demographic statistics in the European Union, through the collection, development, processing and transmission, by the Member States, of European harmonised statistics on population and vital events.

The aim of the Regulation is to harmonise concepts, themes covered and the characteristics of the required information, coverage, quality criteria, reference periods and the results, so as to obtain relevant, current, comparable and coherent European statistics.

Breakdown by gender: as suggested by the European Parliament, the new Regulation introduces a reference citing the strategic objective of the Beijing Platform for Action (1995) which provides a reference framework for the generation and dissemination of gender-disaggregated data and information, for planning and policy evaluation reasons.

The Regulation also guarantees the right to respect for private and family life and the protection of personal data, as defined in articles 7 and 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

Data on population and on vital events: under the terms of the Regulation, the Member States shall provide to the Commission (Eurostat):

a) data on their usually resident population covering the population by age, sex and region of residence ;

b) data on the vital events covering the following variables:

·         live births by sex, month of occurrence, live birth-order, mother’s age, mother’s year of birth, mother’s country of birth, mother’s country of citizenship and mother’s region of residence;

·         deaths by age, sex, year of birth, region of residence, country of birth, country of citizenship and month of occurrence.

Member States must use the same definition of population for all ‘national’ and ‘regional’ levels as defined by the Regulation.

The concept of ‘usual residence’ means the place where a person normally spends the daily period of rest, regardless of temporary absences for purposes of recreation, holidays, visits to friends and relatives, business, medical treatment or religious pilgrimage. This concept can be interpreted in the sense of the official or legal place of residence.

Frequency of data: each year, Member States shall provide the Commission (Eurostat) with data for the previous year on their population and on their vital events, as well as data on the total population at national level.

·         The reference date for population data shall be the end of the reference period (midnight of 31 December). The first reference date shall be in 2013 and the last reference date shall be in 2027.

·         The reference period for vital events data shall be the calendar year in which the events occurred. The first reference period shall be 2013 and the last reference period shall be 2027.

Review Clause: the Commission must present its first report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the implementation of this Regulation by 31 December 2018, and a second report by 31 December 2023. Those reports shall be accompanied, if appropriate, by proposals designed to further improve the operation of the Regulation.

ENTRY INTO FORCE: 30/12/2013. The Regulation shall cease to apply on 31 August 2028.