Principles and Recommendation for population and housing census: the 2020 round

1. United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Revising the Principles and Recommendations for
Population and Housing Censuses
New York, 29 October – 1 November 2013
Annotated outline for the Principles and
Recommendations for Population and Housing
Censuses: the 2020 Round
United Nations Statistics Division

2. United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Revising the Principles and Recommendations for
Population and Housing Censuses
New York, 29 October – 1 November 2013
International guidelines
• Population Census Methods (1949)
• Principles and Recommendations for National Population Censuses
(1958)
• General Principles for a Housing Census (1958)
• Principles and Recommendations for the 1970 Population Censuses
(1969)
• Principles and Recommendations for the 1970 Housing Censuses
(1969)
• Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses
(1980)
• Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses,
Revision 1 (1998)
• Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses,
Revision 2 (2008)

3. United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Revising the Principles and Recommendations for
Population and Housing Censuses
New York, 29 October – 1 November 2013
International guidelines
Purpose:
(a) Provide methodological and operational
guidelines
(b) Ensure comparability at international and
regional levels

4. United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Revising the Principles and Recommendations for
Population and Housing Censuses
New York, 29 October – 1 November 2013
Current round – few of the lessons learned
- Most countries used the traditional approach –
asking each household to provide information
- More extensive use of population and
administrative registers
- Extensive use of contemporary technologies
- Use of internet

5. United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Revising the Principles and Recommendations for
Population and Housing Censuses
New York, 29 October – 1 November 2013
Current version of Principles and Recommendations
Focus on traditional census, three main parts
- Operational aspects of population and housing
census
- Topics for population and housing censuses
- Census products and utilization

6. United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Revising the Principles and Recommendations for
Population and Housing Censuses
New York, 29 October – 1 November 2013
Issues to consider in the process of revision
- Elaboration on register-based censuses
- Adding the essential feature: generating statistics
for small areas
- Use of micro-data
- Archiving of census records
- Quality assurance
- Updating relevant international classifications

7. United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Revising the Principles and Recommendations for
Population and Housing Censuses
New York, 29 October – 1 November 2013
Proposed structure
Four parts
(a) Definitions, essential features and uses of
population and housing census
(b) Topics for population and housing census
(c) Census operations: Preparation,
organization and administration
(d) Census products and data utilization

8. United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Revising the Principles and Recommendations for
Population and Housing Censuses
New York, 29 October – 1 November 2013
Essential features
Individual enumeration
Universality within a defined territory
Simultaneity
Established periodicity
Small area statistics
Part One – Proposed additions

9. United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Revising the Principles and Recommendations for
Population and Housing Censuses
New York, 29 October – 1 November 2013
Census methodology
Traditional census
Register-based census
Combined methodology
Part One – Proposed additions

10. United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Revising the Principles and Recommendations for
Population and Housing Censuses
New York, 29 October – 1 November 2013
Depending on the discussion and the conclusions of the
working group
Part Two – Proposed additions

11. United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Revising the Principles and Recommendations for
Population and Housing Censuses
New York, 29 October – 1 November 2013
Enumeration
Method of enumeration
Timing and length of the enumeration period
Supervision
Monitoring the enumeration
Use of technologies in the enumeration
Use of sampling in the enumeration
Part Three – Proposed additions

12. United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Revising the Principles and Recommendations for
Population and Housing Censuses
New York, 29 October – 1 November 2013
Archiving
Purposes of archiving census databases
Procedures for archiving and confidentiality
Data storage, maintenance and security
Part Three – Proposed additions

13. United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Revising the Principles and Recommendations for
Population and Housing Censuses
New York, 29 October – 1 November 2013
Operational aspects for register-based census
A. Essential features
Definition of registers
Pre-conditions
B. Administration of register-based census
Legal framework
List of registers
Matching procedures
Editing
Master file
Quality
Meta data and documentation
Coordination
Part Three – Proposed additions

14. United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Revising the Principles and Recommendations for
Population and Housing Censuses
New York, 29 October – 1 November 2013
Metadata
Definition and content
Uses of metadata
Part Four – Proposed additions

15. United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Revising the Principles and Recommendations for
Population and Housing Censuses
New York, 29 October – 1 November 2013
Uses of micro-data
Definition of micro data
Making micro data anonymous
Protocols for dissemination
Use of archived census records
Process of archiving census records
Protocols for retrieval of archived records
Part Four – Proposed additions