1 emerging issues for the 2010 round of censuses in the ece region angela me unece statistics...

1

Emerging issues for the 2010 Round of Censuses

in the ECE Region

Angela MeUNECE Statistics Division

UNECE Statistical Division 2

Background information on the region

It covers Europe, North America, Central Asia and Israel

In the last 50 years the UNECE has issued Census Recommendations. In the last decades, the Recommendations have been jointly developed by UNECE and Eurostat


The Recommendations for the 2010 Round

The Work on the revision of the CES Recommendations is carried out by several thematic task forces coordinated by a Steering Group

Issues presented here have been highlighted by the experts in these groups

The suggestions for the “World Recommendations” are ECE views


The Recommendations for the 2010 Round

Based on suggestions from countries a new draft of the Recommendations is in the process of being finalized BUT there are still pending issues

The draft will be discussed in December by census experts from countries

The draft will be considered for adoption by the CES in June 2006


Emerging issues for the CES Recommendations

New methodology section• Revision of the essential census features

• Description of different census methods

• Integrity

• Quality assurance

• Evaluation

• Dissemination

• Consultation

• Publicity campaign

New technology section



Migration• New heading, definition of some population of interest

• How to treat countries recently formed countries and countries where the boarder have recently changed

• Definition of Refugee population and Internally Displaced Population (as derived topics) by the break of other countries Revision of the essential census features

Definition of population• To include refugees and asylum seekers

• To include illegal immigrants



Usual residence• One-year rule (with intention?)+most of daily night rest rule

• Pending: how to treat students and particularly foreign students

Education• Clarify the distinction between attendance and enrolment

(difficult to do for tertiary education)

• To expand on literacy and mention functional literacy

• Attainment as highest level

• New concept of computer literacy



Economic characteristics • Add text on the use of different sources and on the different results that

may be obtained from surveys and census • New topic on time-related underemployment • New topic on informal employment (non-core) • Clarify that “source of livelihood” can not be used to assess activity status

Families and Households• Add same sex couples in classifications of legal and de facto marital

status, relationship to the reference person, and family• Add definition of homeless • Describe the different methods to construct the household: relationship to

one reference person, relationship matrix, partial matrix, and birth information

• Pending: treatment of households with children and grandparents, without the parents but with other members of the mid-generation



Ethno cultural characteristics • Add text on the free declaration of ethnic affiliation

• Pending: allow for multiple answers?

Commuting • New heading including location of place of work-school,

length of journey, and mode of transport

Unpaid volunteer work • New heading and improvement in the definition



Disability • New topic

• In line with the Washington Group and the European Health Module

• The use of the census for screening

Agriculture • New topic

• Individual and household level topics with (?) preference to the individual level

Housing • New framework with the concept of living arrangements

• New concept: Overcrowding (to include floor space or number of rooms)

• Add Accessibility to dwellings


Definition of census

Output oriented definition

Census defined as the operation that produce at regular intervals the official counting of the population (benchmark) in the territory of the country and its smallest geographical sub-territories together with information on a selected number of social and demographic characteristics of this population.


Essential features (Draft)

Individual enumeration Information on each enumerated

person and living quarter is obtained so that their characteristics can be separately recorded. This allows cross-classifying the various characteristics and obtaining data by more then one characteristic.



Specific reference period/ Simultaneity/ Unique reference period

Information obtained on individuals and living quarters in a census should refer to a well-defined and unique reference period. Ideally data on all individuals and living quarters should be collected simultaneously. However, if data are not collected simultaneously, adjustment should be made so that the final data have the same reference period



Comprehensive results/ Comprehensiveness/ Universality/ Benchmark/ Full coverage The population and housing census should provide data on the total number of persons, households and housing units within a precisely defined territory of a country. The counting (or benchmarking) of the population should include every person residing in the defined territory of a country.



Small-areas data The census should produce data on the number and characteristics of the population and housing related to the smallest geographic areas of the country consistent with protecting individual confidentiality.



Defined periodicity The census should be taken at regular intervals so that comparable information is made available in a fixed sequence. It is recommended that census data be produced at least every ten years.



Independent quality check The data provided by the census on the counting of the basic units should be validated with an independent quality check of the coverage.


What could be relevant for the “World Recommendations”?

Migration

Native-born Foreign-born

Foreigners

International migrants Persons with

native-born parents

Persons with foreign-born parents

Descendants of foreign-born



Migration

To add topics on:• country of birth of parents• citizenship acquisition (now a para

in the topic on citizenship)• ever resided abroad (to identify the

international migrants as defined by the UN Recommendations on International Migration Statistics)



Migration

To specify how to treat migrants in countries where there was a recent change in the boarders


What could be relevant for the “World Recommendations”? Ethno-cultural characteristics

To stress the free declaration of ethnicity and the need to include “non-declared” as one of the option

Debate if respondents should have the option to declare more than one ethnic affiliation



Total Population

To stress the inclusion of:

• refugees

• asylum seekers

• illegal immigrantsIf they fulfil the criteria of de-jure or de facto agreed in the census



Education

Emphasize the distinction between attendance and enrolment

Mention the notion of functional literacy

Include the presence in the household of a computer and internet connection



Employment

Add informal employment as a topic recognizing the difficulties in collecting information on this topic in a census

Add explanations on why different results (particularly for unemployment) can be obtained between LFS and census



Families and Households

To include co-habitant couples (including same-sex couples) in the framework of household/family composition and relationship to the reference person

To mention the relationship matrix as a tool to identify the household composition



General

To include issues related to:

• avoiding the non statistical use of the census

• quality assurance

• clarify different methods to conduct a census

• outsourcing

1 emerging issues for the 2010 round of censuses in the ece region angela me unece statistics...

Documents

census recommendations

world recommendations

eurostatthe recommendations

ece viewsthe recommendations

census new topic

new draft

census experts

countries revision