Transition from traditional to register-based census Case of Slovenia - presented at the UN World Data Forum 2017

1. Transition from traditional to
register-based census
Case of Slovenia
Danilo Dolenc, MSc, Census Project Manager
Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia
Cape Town, South Africa, January 16, 2017

2. Ljubljana (0,3 mio)
I
T
A
L
Y
1.5 hour to
VENICE
A U S T R I A
3 hours to
VIENNA
C R O A T I A
S L O V E N I A
20,000 km2 – 2 mio people

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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)

9. 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 sources
PIN

10. 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

11. Disadvantages of a RBC
• Dependence on existing sources
• No more traditional census data based on
statement
– Ethnicity, religion

12. 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

13. 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%

14. 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

15. 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?

16. 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