Transition from traditional to register-based census

Case of SloveniaDanilo Dolenc, MSc, Census Project Manager

Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia

Cape Town, South Africa, January 16, 2017

Ljubljana (0,3 mio)ITALY

1.5 hour to VENICE

A U S T R I A

3 hours to VIENNA

HUNGARY

C R O A T I A

S L O V E N I A20,000 km2 – 2 mio people

Census transition in Slovenia (1)

• Milestones in 1980‘s– Introduction of PIN in 1980– NSI set up basic registers

• Population (CPR)• Territorial (based on addresses)• Business• Employment

– The only one still maintained by the NSI

• First transitional census in 1991– Pre-printed questionanires

Census transition in Slovenia (2)

• Combined census in 2002– About 10 administrative and statistical

sources have been used• 10 topics entirely taken from registers

– Innovative data processing• Paperless and automated editing

– Outsourcing

Road to the register-based census

• NEW - Real Estate Register (RER)– Established in 2007 by the Surveying and

Mapping Authority• On the basis of the special field survey (more than

one year) and already available sources (geodetic cadastre, court land register)

• UPDATE - CPR address data with dwelling number

• INFORMATIZATION of the Household Register

General prerequisites

• Availability of quality data sources including appropriate topics to cover– EU Regulation + user‘s needs

• Unique identifiers to link data on persons, households and dwellings

• Legislation• Access to data (free of charge)• Right to link individual data

Data sources (1)

• Three registers are the backbone of register-based system– CPR – usual population extracted

• Basic demographic characteristics– Household Register

• Relation to the reference person of the household– Used for family derivation

– Real Estate Register• Housing data

Data sources (2)

• Complexity of sources for other census topics – hierarchy of sources used as main methodological solution– Labour force characteristics (8 sources)– Educational attainment (9 sources)– Migration data (4 sources)– Fertility data (4 sources)

Linkage of data

PIN Address Dwelling number

CPR - Central Population Register

PIN Address Dwelling number

Household number

HR - Household Register

Address Dwelling number

RER - Real Estate Register

All other population data sourcesPIN

Advantages of a RBC 2002 2011

Number of SURS employees 100 + 6

Number of field work staff 10,000 -

Budget 10 mio EUR -

First final results 1 year 4 months

Improved quality Sub(o)bjective Systematic

Security of personal data Under risk No risk

Frequency Every 10 years Q, A, 3-4 Y

Disadvantages of a RBC

• Dependence on existing sources• No more traditional census data based on

statement– Ethnicity, religion

Main findings (1)

• Register-based census in Slovenia keeps all essential census features

• Converting administrative concepts into statistical ones is the main challenge– New methodology must be developed– Break in series with previous censuses

• Users should be informed in advance

Main findings (2)

• Better quality of outputs– No problems with

• Under-coverage (2% in 2002 Census)• Double-counting (1% in 2002 Census)

– Over-coverage around 0.5%• Improving quality of input data

– Labour force status imputation rates• 2011 – 1.8% 2015 – 1.3% 2016 – 1.1%

Conclusion

• Register-based census method is the answer to key objectives for future of the censuses– Negligible costs– Adequate quality of outputs– No respondent burden– Privacy– Frequency

Future of the traditional census

• Is a traditional census conducted every 10 years still feasible?

• Is there still a future for the traditional censuses beyond 2021?

Slovenian RBC in the web

• Register-based Census 2011– http://www.stat.si/popis2011/eng/Default.aspx?lang=eng

• Publications– People, families, dwellings

• http://www.stat.si/doc/pub/people.pdf

– Dad, mom, grandpa, grandma• http://www.stat.si/dokument/8943/dad-mom-grandpa-grandma.pdf