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Census 2011 round (cens_11r)

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National Reference Metadata in Euro SDMX Metadata Structure (ESMS)

Compiling agency: Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO)

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Since 2010, a new Census is conducted and evaluated on an annual basis by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO). The census consists of four separately conducted surveys, two of which have been used in the preparation of the data for the Census Hub Hypercubes – the Register Survey and the Structural Survey.

In the Register Survey, data from the local, cantonal and national population registers as well as from the national Buildings and Dwellings Register is used. It provides information on: a) persons and households such as age, sex, marital status, nationality, household size, etc.; b) buildings and dwellings such as period of construction, building category, number of dwellings, number of rooms, useful floor space etc. The Register Survey provides basic information about the entire population, buildings and dwellings; the data can be evaluated at a very detailed geographical level since for every building, metric geo-coordinates are available and a building and dwelling identifier is associated to every person in the population registers.

The Structural Survey provides information on the themes of population, households, families, housing, employment, mobility, education, language, religion and migration. The sampled population is composed of persons aged 15 or more of the permanent resident population living in private households; each year a minimum of 200'000 persons is randomly selected in order to participate in the Structural Survey. Cantons or large cities can enlarge the sample for their territory on request. Overall approximately 4% of the resident permanent population aged 15 years or older is surveyed in writing (participation by internet or by completing a paper questionnaire). The survey complements the information collected from the registers and provides additional statistics on the structure of the population. Survey results with a sufficiently high quality are available at the following geographic levels: Switzerland (NUTS 1), major regions (NUTS 2), cantons (NUTS 3) and communes (LAU 2) with more than 15’000 inhabitants.

In contrast to the Register Survey which contains information on the entire resident population, the Structural Survey is based only on the resident permanent population aged 15 years or older.

The fact that the Register Survey and the Structural Survey use different universes and are distinct by theme, leads to the situation where population totals of evaluated data vary.

If a hypercube used in the Census Hub is based on Structural Survey data then the result will be 6’587’556 persons, which corresponds to the total population aged 15 years or older and living in private households. If a hypercube is based on Register Survey data then the resulting total resident population will be 7’954’662 persons.

18 May 2015

The EU programme for the 2011 population and housing censuses include data on persons, private households, family nuclei, conventional dwellings and living quarters.

Persons enumerated in the 2011 census are those who were legally resident in the territory of the reporting country at the census reference date. The legal residence is the main residence of the person as registered in the population register, regardless of temporary absences for purposes of recreation, holidays, visits to friends and relatives, business, medical treatment or religious pilgrimage. Persons who are enumerated but do not meet the criteria for permanent legal residence in the place of enumeration, i.e. do not live or do not expect to live in the place of enumeration for a continuous perod of at least 12 months, are considered temporarily present and are therefore not counted in the total permanent resident population.

Data are available at different levels of geographical detail: national, NUTS2, NUTS3 and local administrative units (LAU2)

31 December 2011

Counts of statistical units

All data treatments are done in accordance with the EDIMBUS Recommended Practices on Editing and Imputation in Cross Sectional Business Surveys (see link below). Although these recommendations have been developped for business surveys, they are also applicable to census surveys.

Annexes:
EDIMBUS - Recommended Practices for Editing and Imputation in Cross Sectional Business Surveys

Since 2010, data on population and housing censuses are disseminated yearly.

31.03.2014

Data from registers (STATPOP): Persons are enumerated where they are legally registered in the population registers, regardless of where most of the daily period of rest is spent. This also applies for children who alternate between two places of residence. Persons who work or study abroad but return home on a regular basis are included in the census population if they are registered in the population registers. The place of enumeration for homeless or roofless persons, nomads, vagrants and persons is also the commune where they are legally registered; if they are not officially registered in the commune, the FSO gets no information and therefore does not enumerate them.

Data from the sample survey (Structural Survey): Only the population aged 15 and over, and living in private households, is enumerated. Foreign diplomatic personnel and their families are excluded.

Au niveau des logements, que ce soient des données de registre (StatBL) ou relevées par échantillon (SE), ne sont recensés que ceux qui comportent un équipement de cuisine (cuisine ou cuisinette). Tous sont considérés ici comme 'Conventional dwellings', qu'ils soient either used as a residence, or vacant, or reserved for seasonal or secondary use, ou utilisés à d'autres fins que l'habitation, ou inhabitables. Tous les bâtiments et les logements recensés sont terminés au jour de référence.