In Germany, citizens are generally obliged to register their place of residence. All municipalities keep population registers for this purpose. The demographic information the registers contain provides the basis for the collection of population figures.
To identify overcoverage and undercoverage in the population registers, the register census uses the signs-of-life approach to check whether individuals have been in contact with other administrative agencies, for instance statutory pension insurance institutions. This means that the population register data are matched against signs of life in other administrative data. In addition, a procedure is being developed to resolve inconsistencies concerning the place of residence. Method testing is currently being carried out to thoroughly examine the use of registers to determine population figures.
Obligations for data transmission to the EU must continue to be reliably met during the transitional period through to 2031. The "combination model" is designed to enhance the intercensal population updates in order to meet already existing or additional requirements. The results of the intercensal population updates are linked with annual data from the population registers to provide regional or statistics-specific breakdowns which are not available from the intercensal population updates. For example, geocoded population figures are to be made available in the future.
In addition to data on the population, the register census provides information on buildings with residential space, inhabited accommodations and the dwellings contained therein as well as on the housing situation of the population. This includes information on the structure of the building and housing stock (for example, type of building, year of construction or floor area), type of ownership and some energy-related characteristics of buildings and dwellings.
However, as the data collections currently available in Germany only contain a small amount of the information required for the register census of buildings and dwellings, another census of buildings and housing will need to be conducted for the reporting year 2031. All owners of residential space in Germany will be surveyed for this census.
In the long term, the required basic data are to be provided by a register of buildings and dwellings, which is currently not yet available for the whole of Germany. Moreover, many authorities at federal, Land and municipal level need a register of buildings and dwellings to be able to perform their administrative tasks. This is the reason why the register should be set up as an administrative register and contain information on all buildings in Germany, irrespective of their use.
The register of buildings and dwellings could, for example, provide detailed regional data and better connected data for planning and management in the real estate sector, such as information on the availability of residential space, for monitoring climate targets, and for flood protection and emission control. The register could also offer better transparency regarding ownership structures in the real estate sector and the land market.
In August 2021, the Federal Statistical Office, the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development and the National Regulatory Control Council held an online workshop to discuss the requirements and uses of a register of buildings and dwellings. The workshop presentations are available online.
Address register
The address register is intended to provide a central and continually updated collection of all addresses in Germany for official statistics. Furthermore, the register is to contain selected additional information such as geographic coordinates, the availability of residential space or the applicability of various territorial classification systems. The address register will be used to process population data in the register census and to geocode the results. It will also be available for other federal and Land statistics.
The register census also provides information on household and family structures as well as on the housing circumstances of the population, for example, the size of households or the average floor space of dwellings of lone parents. To be able to determine the members of a joint household, different data sources need to be linked, in particular the population registers, the register of institutions and collective living quarters and the census of buildings and housing. In the long term, it may also be possible to use data from a register of buildings and dwellings.
Register of institutions and collective living quarters
Not all people in Germany live independently in a household. Therefore, there are plans to set up and maintain a register of institutions and collective living quarters for statistical purposes in order to identify such facilities. The register of institutions and collective living quarters will provide information on residential and communal establishments, for instance for senior citizens, people in need of care, homeless people or students. The register will contain data on the type of institution, its address and the owner or provider, for example. No data will be collected on the people living in these institutions. The aim is to use the register of institutions and collective living quarters not only for register census purposes but also for other relevant federal and Land statistics.
The register census also comprises information on the labour force participation of the population. This includes the activity status, that is, the distinction between persons in employment, unemployed people and the inactive population. In the case of persons in employment, further variables regarding the status in employment, the actual occupation, the branch of economic activity and the place of work are recorded. As yet there is no standardised data basis in Germany which contains this information for all groups of persons of relevance to the labour market. The data on labour market participation will therefore be collected from existing data sources such as the Federal Employment Agency, the tax authorities of the Länder or the statistics of public service personnel. The data on each person will be linked and matched in order to attribute them to the variables based on general and plausible rules. If persons in employment have more than one job at the same time, their main activity must be determined. As regards the status in employment, a distinction must be made between dependent employment and self-employment, for example.
In addition, the register census collects data on the population's education. This refers to the highest level of qualification (educational attainment). Furthermore, information is recorded on participation in education, that is, whether people are in education or training at a specific point in time. At present, education data on the population can only be collected through surveys because there is no standardised register. The aim is to set up an educational pathway register outside the register census in order to create a future statistical data basis which can be used, for example, to consolidate information on newly acquired qualifications from the continuous education statistics. For the time being, the register census will make use of administrative and statistical data sources which already contain education characteristics for individual groups of persons. Examples are the 2022 Census, statistics of the Federal Employment Agency and the microcensus. Once completed, educational qualifications are retained throughout a person's lifetime. For that reason, information on educational attainment that was collected by the register census of the previous year is to be included in data processing. The different data need to be linked and integrated. Finally, appropriate extrapolation and estimation procedures must be developed and tested to be able to close existing data gaps and collect reliable education data.
