What data will be collected?

Generally a census collects personal data, that is on demography (sex, age, marital status, citizenship), on the migration background, on employment, and on education, as well as data on household and family relationships. Also, an EU-wide housing census will be conducted together with the population census. All those issues are not aimed at the specific circumstances of individualinhabitants. What is intended instead is to obtain structural data while strictly safeguarding statistical confidentiality.

The details of the survey programme will have to be defined by the legislative bodies, that is for the EU-wide census 2011 through an EU regulation and/or by national legislation. Probably in 2007, the EU regulation will be available. The survey programme will closely follow the recommendations given by the United Nations (ECE) in summer 2006 on the core variables for the worldwide census round 2010. According to the information currently available, the following survey programme, which will be binding for the entire EU, can be expected:

Variables of population statistics

• Place of birth, country of birth
• Usual place of residence
• Usual place of residence one year before the census
• Sex
• Age
• Marital status
• Citizenship
• For persons who entered from abroad: Date of entry
• Ever lived abroad, including date of arrival there

Household and family-related variables

• Household relationship
• Household type
• Household size
• Status within the family
• Type of nuclear family
• Size of nuclear family

Variables of employment statistics / economic variables

• Current activity status
• Persons not in employment
  Values: Pupils/students, pensioners, housewives/househusbands
• Hours usually worked per reference week
• Occupation
• Economic branch
• Status in employment
  Values: Employees; self-employed with employees; self-employed without employees; family workers; members of producer co-operatives
• Type of workplace
  Values: Homeworker; commercial agents/no fixed workplace; fixed workplace outside the home

Variables of education statistics

• Highest level of qualification attained

Variables of building and housing statistics

• Type of building
  Values: Conventional building, mobile home, institution, hotel
• Type of conventional building
  Values: Detached house, semi-detached house, terraced house, apartment
• Type of use
  Values: Residential purposes, unoccupied
• Use of the building/dwelling as owner or tenant
• Year of construction of the building
• Housing situation of the household
  Values: Living alone, living in the household context
• Number of occupants
• Number of rooms
• Equipment of the dwelling
  Values: Bathroom, shower, toilet; kitchen, kitchenette, cooking facility
• Type of heating
• Connection to a water supply system

No information on income will be collected.