1. A review of the 2011 census round in the EU, including the successful implementation of a detailed European legal base
First meeting of the
Technical Coordination Group for the
next Census round in South East Europe
15-16 June 2017
Budapest
Maja Berber, EUROSTAT,
UNIT F2 Population and Migration

2. Contents
Introduction
2011 European census programme
Census Hub

3. Introduction Census 1991 Census 2001
At European level, the 1991 census round was the subject of Directive that specified that census-type data that would be collected during 1991
The data programme was agreed with Member States based on the "Recommendations for the 1990 Censuses of population and housing in the ECE region"
Census 2001
No common legal basis – "Gentlemen’s Agreement"
"Guidelines and Table Programme for the Community Programme of Population and Housing Censuses in 2001" - adopted by the Statistical Programme Committee in November 1997
Limited set of tables provided - Eurobase
No EU totals
Census 2011

4. 2011 European census programme
The 2011 Population and Housing Census marks a milestone in census exercises in Europe
For the first time, European legislation defined in detail a set of harmonised high-quality data from the population and housing censuses conducted in the EU Member States and EFTA countries
Massive effort of data output harmonization

5. Regulation (EC) No 763/2008 establishes common rules for the decennial provision of comprehensive data on population and housing
Regulation (EC) No 1201/2009 contains definitions and technical specifications for the census topics (variables) and their breakdowns
Regulation (EU) No 519/2010 requires the data output that Member States transmit to the Commission to comply with a defined programme of statistical data
Regulation (EU) No 1151/2010 requires transmission of a quality report containing a systematic description of the data sources used for census purposes in the Member States and of the quality of the census results produced from these sources

6. As a result, the data from the 2011 round of censuses:
can be seen as an important collective endeavour of the European Statistical System (ESS),
provide researchers, analysts, businesses and the general public with access to an unprecedented richness of harmonised and comparable information, and
offer exceptional flexibility to cross-tabulate different variables and to provide geographically detailed data.

7. Topics covered by the census
Location
Usual residence
Place of work
Demographic characteristics
Sex
Age
Data on persons
Family & household characteristics
(Legal) marital status
Family status
Household status
Employment and education characteristics
Current activity status
Industry
Occupation
Status in employment
Educational attainment
Migration and mobility
Place of birth
Country of citizenship
Year of arrival
Residence one year before
Housing arrangements

9. 2011 Census Data structured in 60 multidimensional tables (called hypercubes - HC)
Defined 201 sub sections (called Primary marginals or regions) inside the 60 HC
Multidimensional tables allowing users to pick relevant concepts (topics), thus table list not relevant and selection by concepts chosen
Possibility to cross-tabulate several social variables  focus on specific subgroups of the resident population

10. Census Hub
The new tool constructed for data dissemination is based on the concept of data sharing, where NSIs provide access to their data according to standard processes, formats and technologies while Eurostat provides the IT structure that allows users to quickly and flexibly specify, compile and extract data stored in the different national census databases. NSIs remain 'proprietors' of the data and keep complete control over them.

11. How the Hub works National Statistical Institute
Eurostat Census
Hub 11 11 11

12. An innovative dissemination tool
A distributed data warehouse based on agreed data structures
Data are physically resident in Member States and retrieved dynamically upon user request
Central and national nodes can automatically exchange data among each other
Solution that can be reused (for next census as well as for other data collections)
First full implementation of SDMX* in the ESS

13. Prerequisite: SDMX compliance
Statistical Data and Metadata eXchange (SDMX) process
Agreed standard/format for data exchange
Defined definitions, concepts, codelists, data structure definitions (DSDs), transmission model and obligations
Requires:
NSIs to create and transmit data according to:
agreed format
mode of data exchange
defined time period
Software is supplied by Eurostat and already installed in the MSs and EFTA counties

14. The 2011 census programme and the Census Hub were originally designed for researchers and advanced users
The final design of the user interface, though, made the portal accessible to the general public too

15. A data user can…
Browse the Hub to define a dataset of interest, navigating via structural metadata:
Search by topic (filters) and select data (level of detail, breakdowns)
Select layout (axes)
View a table
Export a file (CSV, Excel, SDMX-ML)
User registration
Registered users can:
Save, retrieve, modify or delete stored queries
Receive an notification when offline queries are executed 15

17. Opening of the Census Hub in 2014
Followed by Press release and opening of the Dedicated Section on Eurostat Webpage
National Statistical Institutes announced the opening on their websites and linked Census Hub to their pages

18. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!