1. Collection and dissemination of data geo-referenced to a 1km² grid Item 3.2 of the draft agenda
DSS Meeting 1 and 2 March 2018

2. Content Need for geo-referenced census data A new legal base
Current proposals for 1km² grid data content
Statistical disclosure control for census grid data
Compliance with INSPIRE Directive
Conclusions

3. Need for geo-referenced census data
Increasing importance of geospatial data combined with social and economic statistics
Noted by
2015 report of the UN Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management
"2020 round of censuses … an important opportunity for the integration of statistical and geospatial data"
European Statistical Advisory Committee
Geographically detailed statistics that relate to issues and local areas that people recognise and can understand
Information about 'my town', 'my district'
Overcoming 'post-truth' in public debate

4. EU Structural & Investment Funds
Small area data for regional and social cohesion policies
EU payments planned & implemented for
€200 billion – European Regional Development Fund
€60 billion – Cohesion Fund
€100 billion – European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development
Annual amount of approximately €51 billion (~35% EU budget)
DG REGIO responsible for the funds - implements and evaluates related policies
- need for reliable data for stable small areas

5. Grid data allow analyses not previously possible with small pre-defined statistical areas
LAU2 units and other small area units are not stable – many changes over time
Examples of other needs for grid data
Emergency management plans
Assessing access to public and other services
How many people live in a flood zone?
How many people are within 30 minutes of a hospital?

6. Budapest Memorandum
Action point 8 – agreed by Directors General of NSIs
To develop a basic set of census-related geo-referenced data covering a limited range of demographic and socio-economic characteristics, as a source of geographically detailed regional data on migrants.

7. A new legal base
Regulation (EC) 763/2008 does not foresee geo-grid statistics
Direct Temporary Statistical Action (TSA) possible under the Regulation on European Statistics
Three conditions
no more than three reference years
data available to the NSIs or can be obtained directly
financial contributions to cover incremental costs
Based on past consultations with Member States, Eurostat believes these conditions will be met

8. Drafting the TSA regulation
Discussion of initial draft regulation by the Task Force on future EU censuses in December 2016
Revised draft agreed by the Task Force in April 2017
At that stage, without completed Article 6 – which required input from the SGA project on disclosure control
Updated version – with Article 6
Written consultation with the Task Force
Agreed by the Census Working Group in November 2017, and recommended for submission to and approval by the DSS

9. Programme of 1km² grid data
For each 1 km grid square, 13 numbers:
total population
sex (males, females)
age (under 15, 15-64, 65 and over)
employed persons (only if available nationally)
place of birth (in the reporting country, in another EU country, outside EU)
usual residence 12 months before (unchanged, within reporting country, outside of the reporting country)
No cross-tabulations of different data items

10. Disclosure control
1km2 grid data presents new disclosure control challenges
very small, non-nested (with NUTS/LAU) areas
Proposed approach is supported in the outputs and conclusions of the SGA 'Harmonised protection of census data in the ESS’ project:
SGA recommended (but optional) disclosure control methods suitable for protecting the main EU census programme outputs and the 1km² grid data

11. Compliance with the INSPIRE Directive
The INSPIRE Directive aims to create a spatial data infrastructure for the EU
common technical standards to enable the sharing of environmental spatial information between administrations and to facilitate public access
assist in policy making and evaluation across national boundaries by the use of compatible standards
Member States must ensure that any spatial data that they produce comply with the common INSPIRE standards relating to data, metadata and output production
Article 12 of the draft regulation: in transmitting the grid data and metadata, and in their dissemination via the Census Hub, Member States will have met their obligations under the INSPIRE Directive with regard to the 2021 census grid data
reduced burden for Member States

12. Conclusions Responding to the Budapest Memorandum
An important new development for the 2021 census programme
Increasing importance of geospatial data combined with social and economic statistics
A pilot for further development in the post-2021 census
Technical and legal problems have been overcome thanks to positive cooperation within ESS

13. The DSS is invited to …
note the development of the technical proposals for the dissemination of 2021 census grid data for a 1km² grid;
approve the draft regulation for submission to the European Statistical System Committee.