UNECE The place of usual residence and the total population: national practices in the 2000 round and comments on the recommendations Paolo Valente Social and Demographic Statistics Section UN Economic Commission for Europe - Statistical Division ECE Work Session on Population Censuses Geneva, November 2004

UNECE Place of usual residence General concept and definition In the 2000 recommendations, it is defined as the place where the person “spends most of his/her daily night-rest”

UNECE Place of usual residence Difficult groups A list of “difficult groups” was given, including: - persons who maintain more than one residence - students living in a residence for part of the year and elsewhere during vacations - persons who live away from home during the working week and return at weekends (and other groups...)

UNECE Place of usual residence Difficult groups For these “difficult groups”, the general definition was still valid, with the additional clarification: “For persons with a spouse/partner and/or children, the usual residence should be that at which they spend the majority of the time with their family”

UNECE Place of usual residence Difficult groups Special “difficult group”: nomads, homeless and roofless persons. A ccording to the recommendations, they had to be considered “as usually resident where they are enumerated”

UNECE Place of usual residence Results of the ECE questionnaire Large majority of countries reported that they complied with the recommended definition/concept of usual residence BUT High variability in the treatment of “difficult groups”

UNECE Place of usual residence Treatment of “difficult groups” For instance: Students: in half of the countries counted at college, in half of the countries counted at home Persons who left the place/country temporarily: some countries set maximum length of the absence (3 or 6 months), other have no limit In general: inconsistent application of the recommendation on “priority to family place”

UNECE Place of usual residence Double and undercounting problems For many of the “difficult groups”, countries reported double and undercounting problems Double counting reported for: - students (counted at college and at home) - persons with multiple residences - persons in institutions - children of divorced parents

UNECE Place of usual residence Double and undercounting problems Undercounting reported for: - young and mobile persons (in particular people living alone and males) - persons temporarily absent - immigrants (especially recent and illegal) - homeless

UNECE Place of usual residence 2010 recommendations (1/2) Keep the same concept of usual residence (the place where most of the night rest is spent) and better define the “time frame”. Ex.: “the place where the person spent most of the nights [or most of the time] in the last year”

UNECE Place of usual residence 2010 recommendations (2/2) For “difficult groups”: 1) revise list of groups 2) define clearer rules for each group 3) discuss the “priority to family place” Specific instructions for countries using registers?

UNECE Total population Many different concepts of total population can be defined and used for various purposes. For censuses, the two most common concepts are: 1)the total usually resident population 2)the total present population

UNECE Total population Definition in 2000 recommendations The 2000 recommendations were based on “total usually resident population” Persons had to be counted at their place of usual residence, or the information had to be “transferred” to their place of usual residence

UNECE Total population Definition in 2000 recommendations List of special groups to be included in the total usually resident population: - nomads - various categories of persons temporarily absent - refugees - homeless and others...

UNECE Total population Definition in 2000 recommendations List of special groups NOT to be included in the total usually resident population: - various categories of foreigners temporarily present in the country - asylum seekers

UNECE Total population Results of the ECE questionnaire Large majority of countries reported that they complied with the recommended concept of total usually resident population Three countries took a “de facto” census

UNECE Total population Results of the ECE questionnaire BUT: Problems with “special groups” - Nomads WERE NOT included in 18 countries - Refugees WERE NOT included in 14 countries - Asylum seekers WERE included in 22 countries

UNECE Total population 2010 recommendations Maintain the same concept of total usually resident population, but try to better harmonize the treatment of various special groups: - refugees - nomads - asylum seekers - undocumented immigrants? (not mentioned in the 2000 rec.) - students studying abroad? (pres. by Eurostat)