Census 2021 round (cens

1.1. Contact organisation

National Institute of Statistics

1.2. Contact organisation unit

General Department of Demography and Social Statistics

1.3. Contact name

Confidential because of GDPR

1.4. Contact person function

Confidential because of GDPR

1.5. Contact mail address

16, Libertatii Boulevard, Bucharest

1.6. Contact email address

Confidential because of GDPR

1.7. Contact phone number

Confidential because of GDPR

1.8. Contact fax number

Confidential because of GDPR

2.1. Metadata last certified

16 May 2025

2.2. Metadata last posted

19 May 2025

2.3. Metadata last update

19 May 2025

3.1. Data description

Information refer to the 2021 round of Population and Dwelling Census carried-out in Romania between March and July 2022. The reference date was 1st of December 2021.

Data were collected by two different methods:

CAWI - self-enumeration by respondents themselves by internet, using an electronic questionnaire;
CAPI - enumeration by enumerators in the field, using tablets and electronic questionnaires.

Data from several administrative data sources were used to ensure data completeness and to enhance data quality.

The enumerators were hired by local public administrations and data was processed by National Institute of Statistics.

The 2021 round of Population and Dwelling Census in Romania applied the requests of European Regulations and United Nations and Eurostat Recommendations for the 2020 Censuses of Population and Housing. In the same time, the Romanian dedicated legislation was applied.

The essential aim of 2021 round of Population and Dwelling Census was to obtain and offer basic and good quality statistical information for governmental policies in the economic and social fields in the benefit of human development.

More specific, the goals of the census were to obtain more detailed and good quality statistics about the number and territorial distribution of usual resident population, about it’s demographic and socio-economic structure and information about private and institutional households, building stock and living conditions of population.

Using this very important information, it will be possible to analyse the dynamics of several demographic and social phenomena, both at national and international level.

3.1.1. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on census methodology

There was no impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on census methodology.

3.2. Classification system

The following classification systems were used:

International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED-2011)
International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-08)
Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (NACE Rev 2)
Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS 2021)
National nomenclatures specially created for the census purposes:

The synthetic nomenclature of localities
Nomenclature of educational units
Nomenclature of ethnic groups and mother tongue
Nomenclature of religions in Romania

3.3. Coverage - sector

Not applicable.

3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions

The information is given separately for each census topic. See the sub-concepts 3.4.1 - 3.4.37.

3.4.1. Statistical concepts and definitions - Usual residence

‘Usual residence’ is the place where a person normally spends the daily period of rest, regardless of temporary absences for purposes of recreation, holidays, visits to friends and relatives, business, medical treatment or religious pilgrimage.

The following persons alone shall be considered to be usual residents of the geographical area in question:

(i) those who have lived in their place of usual residence for a continuous period of at least 12 months before the reference date

(ii) those who arrived in their place of usual residence during the 12 months before the reference date with the intention of staying there for at least one year

Where the circumstances described in point (i) or (ii) cannot be established, ‘usual residence’ shall mean the place of legal or registered residence.

For the totally imputed records, because the circumstances described in point (i) or (ii) cannot be established, ‘usual residence’ was the place of legal residence (the address recorded in the administrative data sources).

Because of the covid 19 pandemic, the usual residence for the third level students was defined as the family home or the term time address according to the students' declaration. In order to avoid overcrowding, many universities applied on-line courses, starting with March 2021 till the end of the pandemic (period December 2021- July 2022 inclusive). Many of universities use this system until present.

3.4.2. Statistical concepts and definitions - Sex

‘Sex’ refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women.

3.4.3. Statistical concepts and definitions - Age

The age reached in completed years at the reference date.

3.4.4. Statistical concepts and definitions - Marital status

The marital status is defined as the (legal) conjugal status of each individual in relation to the marriage laws in Romania. Registration of legal marital status was based on the declaration of the enumerated person, not on the basis of certificates.

The following classification of the population by legal marital status was used: Never married, Married, Widowed and not remarried, Divorced and not remarried.

De facto marital status was recorded in a separate question. De facto marital was defined as the marital status of each individual in terms of his or her actual living arrangements within the household enumerated, regardless the legal marital status.

According to the Law no. 288/2007, the minimum age for marriages is 18 years; the court may, for exceptional reasons, allow a person 16 years of age to get married.

The registered /legal partnerships were not legally recognized by the law in Romania at the time of PHC2021.

3.4.5. Statistical concepts and definitions - Family status

The family nucleus is defined in a narrow sense; that is as two or more persons who belong to the same household and who are related as husband and wife, as partners in a registered partnership, as partners in a consensual union, or as parent and child. Thus, a family comprises a couple without children or a couple with one or more children, or a lone parent with one or more children. This family concept limits relationships between children and adults to direct (first-degree) relationships, that is, between parents and children.

3.4.6. Statistical concepts and definitions - Household status

We applied the "housekeeping concept" to identify private households.

According to the housekeeping concept, a private household is either: (a) a one-person household, that is a person who lives alone in a separate housing unit or who occupies, as a lodger, a separate room (or rooms) of a housing unit but does not join with any of the other occupants of the housing unit to form part of a multiperson household as defined below; or (b) a multiperson household, that is a group of two or more persons who combine to occupy the whole or part of a housing unit and to provide themselves with food and possibly other essentials for living. Members of the group may pool their incomes to a greater or lesser extent.

The household status was determined based on the relationships between household members or family nucleus (relationship matrix) and relation with the household head collected on the census questionnaire.

An institutional household is a relatively big group of persons, not having generally family relations, who are reunite for and common interests and who usually have common facilities shared by the occupants (baths, lounges, eating facilities, dormitories and so forth) in a collective space.

3.4.7. Statistical concepts and definitions - Current activity status

Current activity status refers to the relation in which the person is currently involved to economic and social activity, and the manner in which it provides the power necessary existence living in the reference week prior to the reference date (i.e. 22-28 November 2021).

According to article 13 in the Law no.53/2003, a person can be officially hired starting with the age of 16 years old. A person can sign a work contract as an employee starting with the age of 15 years old with parents’ approval for appropriate activities if his/her health, development and professional training ate not put in danger.

For persons doing more than one job, the main job was chosen by the person herself/himself on the basis of time spent on the job or the income received.

3.4.8. Statistical concepts and definitions - Occupation

Occupation refers to the type of work done in a job. ‘Type of work’ is described by the main tasks and duties of the work.

Persons are classified according to the occupation they had during their most recent employment. The categories included in the breakdown 'occupation' correspond to the major groups of the ISCO-08 (COM) classification.

Persons under the age of 15 years, as well as persons aged 15 or over that were:

not economically active during the reference week, or
unemployed, never worked before (i.e. they have never been employed in their lives).

are classified under 'not applicable'.

The allocation of a person within the breakdowns of the topics 'Occupation', 'Industry' and 'Status in employment' is based on the same job.

Persons under Armed Force occupations group are included in other occupation groups.

3.4.9. Statistical concepts and definitions - Industry

Industry (branch of economic activity) refers to the kind of production or activity of the establishment or similar unit in which the job of an employed person is located.

Persons doing more than one job shall be allocated an industry (branch of economic activity) based on their main job, which was identified according to the time spent on the job or (if not available) the income received.
The breakdown by industry is available for persons aged 15 or over that were:

employed during the reference week, or
unemployed during the reference week, but have ever been in employment.

Persons are classified according to the industry they worked in during their most recent employment. The categories included in the breakdown 'industry' list the 21 sections of the NACE Rev. 2 classification and appropriate aggregates

3.4.10. Statistical concepts and definitions - Status in employment

An ‘employee’ is a person who works in a ‘paid employment’ job, that is a job where the explicit or implicit contract of employment gives the incumbent a basic remuneration, which is independent of the revenue of the unit for which he/ she works. An ‘employer’ is a person who, working on his or her own account or with a small number of partners, holds a ‘self- employment’ job and, in this capacity, on a continuous basis (including the reference week) has engaged one or more persons to work for him/her as ‘employees’.

Those entrepreneurs who were employees in their unit were considered as employees.

3.4.11. Statistical concepts and definitions - Place of work

The location of the place of work is the geographical area in which a currently employed person does his/her job.

The place of work of those mostly working at home is the same as their usual residence. The term ‘working’ refers to work done as an ‘employed person’ as defined under the topic ‘Current activity status’. ‘Mostly’ working at home means that the person spends all or most of the time working at home, and less, or no, time in a place of work other than at home.

Information on persons who do not have a fixed place of work but who report to a fixed address at the beginning of their work period (for example bus drivers, airline crew, operators of street market stalls that are not removed at the end of the workday) refer to that address. This group may also include individuals who travel to work, on a regular basis, across the border to a neighbouring country. Breakdown ‘No fixed place of work (inside or outside the Member State)’ includes all persons without fixed place of work but will also refer to persons such as sailors, fishermen and offshore workers for whom it may not be possible to allocate the place of work.

3.4.12. Statistical concepts and definitions - Educational attainment

Educational attainment refers to the highest level successfully completed in the educational system where the education was received, attested by a certificate or diploma. The information was recorded for persons 2 years old or older.

For people who completed two or more educational institutions of the same level only one of them was recorded, according to the free statement of the respondents.

The information collected on education differed in function of the level of education graduated.

For non-tertiary education, people 2 years old and over recorded in the questionnaire only the level of education graduated.

For the tertiary education, the persons declared the following information on education: the country (Romania or another foreign country), the town inside Romania where the central headquarters of the university was placed and the period of time when he/she graduated, name of the educational unit the person successfully completed and the domain of study. The answers were coded using the Nomenclature of educational institutions specially created for the census purposes.

The persons below 15 years old are classified under ‘Not applicable’ code. In ISCED level 0: Less than primary education are included persons not having successfully completed ISCED level 1. i.e.persons who have never attended an education programme.

3.4.13. Statistical concepts and definitions - Size of the locality

According to Law no. 351 from 6 July 2001, the locality is defined as the form of stable settlement of population in territory, making a nuclei of human life, with different structure and size, being differentiated depending on specificity of people’s dominant production activities, characteristics of territorial-administrative organization, number of inhabitants, features of buildings fund, degree of social, cultural and technical-urbanistic endowment.

3.4.14. Statistical concepts and definitions - Place of birth

Information on the ‘Place of birth’ is collected according to the place of usual residence of the mother at the time of the birth, or, if not available, the place in which the birth took place, on the basis of international boundaries existing on 1 January 2021.

For reporting countries that are EU Member States, the sub-category under the category 'other EU Member State' that refers to their Member State does not apply. For reporting countries that are not EU Member States, the category 'Other EU Member State' shall be read as 'EU Member State'.
The category 'Information not classifiable according to current borders' covers those persons whose country of birth existed at the time of the birth, but no longer exists at the time of the census, and who cannot be allocated uniquely to one country existing at the time of the census, i.e. according to current borders.
The category 'outside any country' covers persons for whom the usual residence of the mother at the time of the birth is not known and who where born outside the borders of any country, for example at sea or in the air.

The persons declared the country of birth (Romania or other country), the county, locality and villageof birth, inside Romania.

3.4.15. Statistical concepts and definitions - Country of citizenship

Citizenship is defined as the particular legal bond between an individual and his/her State, acquired by birth or naturalization, whether by declaration, option, marriage or other means according to the national legislation. A person with two or more citizenships is allocated to only one country of citizenship, to be determined in the following order of precedence:

1. reporting country

2. if the person does not have the citizenship of the reporting country: other EU Member State

3. if the person does not have the citizenship of another EU Member State: other country outside the European Union.

'EU Member State' means a country that is a member of the European Union on 1 January 2021. The list of countries in the breakdown 'Country of citizenship' shall only apply for statistical purposes.
For reporting countries that are EU Member States, the sub-category of the category 'citizenship not of reporting country, but other EU Member State' that refers to their Member State does not apply. For reporting countries that are not EU Member States, the category 'citizenship not of reporting country, but other EU Member State' shall be changed to 'citizenship of an EU Member State'.

3.4.16. Statistical concepts and definitions - Year of arrival in the country

The year of arrival is the calendar year in which a person most recently established usual residence in the country.

The data for 2021 refer to the time span between 1 January 2021 and the reference date.

3.4.17. Statistical concepts and definitions - Residence one year before

The relationship between the current place of usual residence and the place of usual residence one year prior to the census.

For all persons that have changed their usual residence more than once within the year prior to the reference date, the previous place of usual residence is the last usual residence from which they moved to their current place of usual residence.

The persons declared the country, the county and the locality inside Romania where he/she had the previous usual residence.

3.4.18. Statistical concepts and definitions - Housing arrangements

The topic ‘Housing arrangements’ covers the whole population and refers to the type of housing in which a person usually resides at the time of the census. This covers all persons who are usual residents in different types of living quarters, or who do not have a usual residence and stay temporarily in some type of living quarters, or who are roofless, sleeping rough or in emergency shelters, when the census is taken.

'Other housing units' are huts, cabins, shacks, shanties, caravans, houseboats, barns, mills, caves or any other shelter used for human habitation at the time of the census, irrespective if it was designed for human habitation.
'Collective living quarters' are premises which are designed for habitation by large groups of individuals or several households and which are used as the usual residence of at least one person at the time of the census.
'Occupied conventional dwellings', 'other housing units' and 'collective living quarters' together represent ‘living quarters'. Any 'living quarter' must be the usual residence of at least one person.

The sum of occupied conventional dwellings and other housing units represents 'housing units'.
The homeless (persons who are not usual residents in any living quarter category) can be persons living in the streets without a shelter that would fall within the scope of living quarters (primary homelessness) or persons moving frequently between temporary accommodation (secondary homelessness).

3.4.19. Statistical concepts and definitions - Type of family nucleus

The family nucleus is defined in a narrow sense; that is as two or more persons who belong to the same household and who are related as husband and wife, as partners in a registered partnership, as partners in a consensual union, or as parent and child. Thus a family comprises a couple without children or a couple with one or more children, or a lone parent with one or more children. This family concept limits relationships between children and adults to direct (first-degree) relationships, that is, between parents and children.

Child (son/daughter) refers to a blood, step- or adopted son or daughter (regardless of age or marital status) who has usual residence in the household of at least one of the parents, and who has no partner or own children in the same household. Foster children are not included. A son or daughter who lives with a spouse, with a registered partner, with a partner in a consensual union, or with one or more own children, is not considered to be a child. A child who alternates between two households (for instance if his or her parents are divorced) shall consider the one where he or she spends the majority of the time as his or her household. Where an equal amount of time is spent with both parents the household shall be the one where the child is found at the time on census night.
The term couple shall include married couples, couples in registered partnerships, and couples who live in a consensual union.
Registered partnerships are reported only by countries that have a legal framework regulating partnerships that:
(a) lead to legal conjugal obligations between two persons;
(b) are not marriages;
(c) prevent persons to commit themselves into multiple partnerships with different partners.
Two persons are considered to be partners in a 'consensual union' when they

belong to the same household, and
have a marriage-like relationship with each other, and
are not married to or in a registered partnership with each other.

'Skip-generation households' (households consisting of a grandparent or grandparents and one or more grandchildren, but no parent of those grandchildren) are not included in the definition of a family.

3.4.20. Statistical concepts and definitions - Size of family nucleus

The family nucleus is defined in a narrow sense; that is as two or more persons who belong to the same household and who are related as husband and wife, as partners in a registered partnership, as partners in a consensual union, or as parent and child. Thus a family comprises a couple without children or a couple with one or more children, or a lone parent with one or more children. This family concept limits relationships between children and adults to direct (first-degree) relationships, that is, between parents and children.

3.4.21. Statistical concepts and definitions - Type of private household

We used ‘housekeeping concept’ to define Private households.

The method used to generate households and families was based on the relationship matrix and the relation each member of the household has with the household head.

3.4.22. Statistical concepts and definitions - Size of private household

Private households were identified using the ‘housekeeping concept’. The size was determined based on the number of household's memebers.

3.4.23. Statistical concepts and definitions - Tenure status of households

The topic ‘Tenure status of households’ refers to the arrangements under which a private household occupies all or part of a housing unit.

3.4.24. Statistical concepts and definitions - Type of living quarter

A living quarter is housing which is the usual residence of one or more persons.

'Conventional dwellings' are structurally separate and independent premises at fixed locations which are designed for permanent human habitation and are, at the reference date, either used as a residence, or vacant, or reserved for seasonal or secondary use.
'Separate' means surrounded by walls and covered by a roof or ceiling so that one or more persons can isolate themselves. 'Independent' means having direct access from a street or a staircase, passage, gallery or grounds.
'Other housing units' are huts, cabins, shacks, shanties, caravans, houseboats, barns, mills, caves or any other shelter used for human habitation at the time of the census, irrespective if it was designed for human habitation.
'Collective living quarters' are premises which are designed for habitation by large groups of individuals or several households and which are used as the usual residence of at least one person at the time of the census.
'Occupied conventional dwellings', 'other housing units' and 'collective living quarters' together represent‘living quarters'. Any 'living quarter' must be the usual residence of at least one person.

3.4.25. Statistical concepts and definitions - Occupancy status

‘Occupied conventional dwellings’ are conventional dwellings which are the usual residence of one or more persons at the time of the census. ‘Unoccupied conventional dwellings’ are conventional dwellings which are not the usual residence of any person at the time of the census.

3.4.26. Statistical concepts and definitions - Type of ownership

‘Type of ownership’ refers to the ownership of the dwelling and not to that of the land on which the dwelling stands. It shows the tenure arrangements under which the dwelling is occupied.

'Owner-occupied dwellings' are those where at least one occupant of the dwelling owns parts or the whole of the dwelling. 'Cooperative ownership' refers to ownership within the framework of a housing cooperative.
'Rented dwellings' are those where at least one occupant pays a rent for the occupation of the dwelling, and where no occupant owns parts or the whole of the dwelling.

3.4.27. Statistical concepts and definitions - Number of occupants

The number of occupants of a housing unit is the number of people for whom the housing unit is the usual residence.

3.4.28. Statistical concepts and definitions - Useful floor space

Useful floor space is defined as the floor space measured inside the outer walls excluding non-habitable cellars and attics and, in multi-dwelling buildings, all common spaces; or the total floor space of rooms falling under the concept of 'room'.

3.4.29. Statistical concepts and definitions - Number of rooms

A ‘room’ is defined as a space in a housing unit enclosed by walls reaching from the floor to the ceiling or roof, of a size large enough to hold a bed for an adult (4 square meters at least) and at least 2 meters high over the major area of the ceiling.

3.4.30. Statistical concepts and definitions - Density standard (floor space)

The topic ‘Density standard (floor space)’ relates the useful floor space in square meters to the number of occupants, as specified under the topic ‘Number of occupants’.

3.4.31. Statistical concepts and definitions - Density standard (number of rooms)

The topic ‘Density standard (number of rooms)’ relates the number of rooms to the number of occupants, as specified under the topic ‘Number of occupants’.

3.4.32. Statistical concepts and definitions - Water supply system

Whether the conventional dwelling is equipped with piped water.

3.4.33. Statistical concepts and definitions - Toilet facilities

Whether the conventional dwelling is equipped with toilet facilities.

3.4.34. Statistical concepts and definitions - Bathing facilities

Whether the conventional dwelling is equipped with bathing facilities.

3.4.35. Statistical concepts and definitions - Type of heating

Conventional dwelling is considered as centrally heated if heating is provided either from a community heating centre or from an installation built in the building or in the conventional dwelling, established for heating purposes, without regard to the source of energy.

3.4.36. Statistical concepts and definitions - Type of building

The topic ‘Dwellings by type of building’ refers to the number of dwellings in the building in which the dwelling is placed.

3.4.37. Statistical concepts and definitions - Period of construction

The topic ‘Dwellings by period of construction’ refers to the year when the building in which the dwelling is placed was completed.

3.5. Statistical unit

The EU programme for the 2021 population and housing censuses includes data on persons, private households, family nuclei, conventional dwellings and living quarters.

3.6. Statistical population

The persons enumerated in the 2021 census are those who were usually resident in the territory of the reporting country at the census reference date.

3.7. Reference area

Data are available at different levels of geographical detail in EU countries: national, NUTS2/NUTS3 regions and local administrative units (LAU), grids.

3.8. Coverage - Time

Data refer to the situation in the Romania at the census reference date (1st of December 2021).

3.9. Base period

Not applicable.

Counts of statistical units should be expressed in numbers and where is needed rate per inhabitants enumerated in the country.

Information is provided in the sub-concepts 5.1 - 5.3.

5.1. EU census reference date

1 December 2021

5.2. National census reference date

1 December 2021

5.3. Differences between reference dates of national and EU census publications

No differences.

6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements

The legal basis for conducting the 2021 round of Population and Housing Census (PHC) is provided by the following European legislation:

Regulation (EC) no. 763/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008 on population and housing censuses;
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) no. 2017/543 of 22 March 2017 laying down rules for the application of Regulation (EC) No 763/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on population and housing censuses as regards the technical specifications of the topics and of their breakdowns;
Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/712 of 20 April 2017 establishing the reference year and the program of the statistical data and metadata for population and housing censuses provided for by Regulation (EC) no 763/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council;
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/881 of 23 May 2017 implementing Regulation (EC) no 763/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on population and housing censuses, as regards the modalities and structure of the quality reports and the technical format for data transmission, and amending Regulation no. 1151/2010;
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) no 2018/1799 of 21 November 2018 on the establishment of a temporary direct statistical action for the dissemination of selected topics of the 2021 population and housing census geocoded to a 1 km2 grid.

Specific pieces of legislation were prepared for the 2021 round of the PHC in Romania which took into account the requirements of European legislation and the Conference of European Statisticians Recommendation for the 2020 Censuses of Population and Housing. These are the following:

the Government Ordinance (ordinary Law) no. 19/2020 regarding the organization and conduct of the population and housing census in Romania (2021 PHC) in 2021 (consolidated by: the Law no. 178/2020 for the approval of the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 19/20202 on the organization and conduct of the population and housing census in Romania, Emergency Government Ordinance no. 39/2021, the Law no. 204/2021on the approval of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 39/2021 amending Government Emergency Ordinance no. 19/2020 on organization and conduct of the population and housing census in Romania in 2021 and the Law no. 16/2022 amending and completing the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 19/2020 on the organization and conduct of the population and housing census in Romania in 2021) which include the most important issues regarding organization and carry-out the PHC 2021
Government Decision no. 733/2020 on the composition, organization, operation and duties of the Census Coordination and Implementation Unit, respectively of the Census Implementation County Units
Government Decision no. 143/2022 (including annexes 1-4) on the form and content of instruments of the population and housing census in Romania in 2021
Government Decision no. 144/2022 (including annexes 1-19) on the approval of the technical specifications for the transmission of data from administrative sources for the population and housing census in Romania in 2021
Government Decision no. 145/2022 regarding the amendment and completion of Government Decision no. 1.071/2020 for the establishment of the budget and categories of expenses necessary for carrying out the population and housing census in Romania in the year 2021, as well as the measures for the implementation of some provisions of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 19/2020 on the organisation and conduct of the population and housing census in Romania in 2021
Government Decision no. 1071/2020 for establishing the budget and categories of expenses necessary for carrying out the population and housing census in Romania in 2021, as well as the measures for the implementation of some provisions of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 19/2020 on the organization and conduct of the population and housing census in Romania in 2021
Government Decision no. 1156/2022 on the distribution of amounts deducted from value added tax for balancing local budgets, provided for in Article 29 paragraph (5) letter a) of Government Ordinance no. 19/2022 on the rectification of the state budget for 2022.

6.1.1. Bodies responsible

Several specific bodies were created in order to plan, implement and coordinate the PHC2021 in Romania, some of them being totally new, compared with the previous censuses.

Central Commission for Population and Housing Census (CCPHC2021) was the body responsible with the preparation, conduct, coordination, and monitoring of the work needed for carrying out the PHC2021.

Pursuant to Government Ordinance No. 19/2020, the body responsible with the preparation, conduct, coordination and monitoring of the work needed for carrying out the 2021 Population and Housing Census was the Central Commission for Population and Housing Census. The main responsibilities of this Commission were as follows:

a) to adopt Decisions for carry-out the responsibilities related to the census;

b) to approve the overall Census organization program, schedule and methodology for data recording and processing;

c) approves the rules of operation and the duties of the census commissions within counties, the Bucharest municipality and sectors, other municipalities, cities and communes;

d) coordinates the implementation of the Government decisions on the census budget, on the composition, organisation, functioning and tasks of the Census Coordination and Implementation Unit, and of the County Census Implementation Units, hereinafter referred to as UJIR, respectively, regarding the technical specifications for the transmission of data from administrative sources, on the establishment of the form and content of the census instruments, of the census classifications and nomenclatures and on the drafts of other normative acts;

e) to approve the instructions and the organization manner and to guide the actions and operations to divide the territory of the administrative-territorial units into Census sectors;

f) to coordinate the recruitment and training of personnel involved in conducting the Census works;

g) to approve the Census promotion and communication strategy;

h) to approve the final Dissemination program of census results;

i) to publish the Census preliminary results.

Pursuant to Article 4 of the same Government Ordinance No. 19/2020, “The organization and carrying out of the Census were performed in technical and methodological terms by the National Institute of Statistics, under the coordination and control of the Population and Housing Census’s Central Commission, according to the Recommendations of the European Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe rules in the field of Population and Housing Census.”.

For managing all methodological and technical activities a Unit of Coordination and Implementation of Census at national level and one County Unit of Implementation of Census for each county.

The Central Commission for Population and Housing Census consisted of:

Chair person: - Ministry of Internal Affairs

Vice Presidents:

President of the National Institute of Statistics
State Secretary for the Ministry of Internal Affair in charge with the relation with prefect institution
Director of Special Telecommunication Service

Secretary:

Vice-President of the National Institute of Statistics
Secretary General of the National Institute of Statistics

Members:

State Secretary for the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection
State Secretary for the Ministry of National Defense
State Secretary for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
State Secretary for the Ministry of Health
State Secretary for the Ministry of Justice
State Secretary for the Ministry of Culture
State Secretary for the Government General Secretariat
State Secretary for the Interethnic Relations Department
Representative of Ministry of Internal Affairs
Representative of the Special Telecommunication Services
Representative of the Ministry of Public Works, Development and Administration
Representative of State Secretariat for Religions
President of the Institute for Studies of Minorities’ Problems
Representative of the Romanian Academy
President of National Agency of Roma
Reprezentantive of the Romanian Towns Association
Reprezentantive of the Romanian Communes Association
Reprezentantive of the Romanian Municipalities Association
Reprezentantive of the National Union of Counties’ Councils

2. Communication and Transparency Council, established as a consultative body near National Institute of Statistics, had the role of ensuring a total transparency and a comprehensive and neutral communication of information related to census. It had the following responsibilities:

a) to promote census and to communicate to public opinion the main census characteristics, ways of organization and enumeration, rights and obligations the persons have, modalities of dissemination and the significance of provisional and definitive results;

b) to assure the transparency of the operating mode regarding the preparation and carry-out of census from the point of view of professional deontology during all the phases of the census;

c) to advocate the census implementation, to mobilize the population using massages and mass-media shows.

Another kind of bodies were created in relation to the National Institute of Statistics and its territorial offices.

The Census Coordination and Implementation Unit (UCIR) coordinated at the national level, from a technical and methodological point of view, the activities of preparation, realisation, processing and dissemination of the PHC2021, while the County Census Implementation Units (UJIR), under the guidance of the Census Coordination and Implementation Unit, ensure the implementation of these activities at the level of each county.

Some of the most important tasks UCIR had are the following:

a) provides the necessary support for the methodological organisation of the CCRPL2021 meetings;

b) drafts the documents referred to in art. 4 para. (4) letters b), e), g) and h) of OUG no. 19/2020, which it submits to the CCRPL2021 for approval;

c) draws up and submits regular reports on the progress of PHC2021 work to the CCRPL2021;

d) ensures that the CCRPL2021 decisions are implemented at central level and that all RPL2021 activities are carried out in good conditions and within the deadlines set out in the PHC2021 Programme of Activities, in order to fulfil them, collaborating with the 42 UJIRs;

e) monitors the implementation of the activities included in the PHC2021 Promotion and Communication Strategy, approved by the CCRPL2021;

g) provides technical-methodological assistance to the 42 UJIRs for the organisation and implementation of the PHC2021;

h) verifies the eligibility of expenses and monitors the execution of the expenses from the RPL2021 budget;

i) verifies the execution of public procurement for goods and services necessary for the RPL2021;

j) ensures through various means the promotion of the RPL2021 at the national level and provides answers to questions related to the RPL2021 submitted to the NSI by media bodies, other institutions and organisations and by the population;

m) provides the training of the staff appointed by the territorial statistical directorates in order to ensure that they acquire the necessary knowledge to train the UJIR staff and also the census staff employed to carry out the data collection activities for the RPL2021;

n) ensures the reception, verification and processing of census data obtained from administrative sources;

o) ensures the reception of data collected at county level and their validation;

p) carries out the centralisation and processing of RPL2021 data;

q) draws up the tables with the provisional results of the RPL2021;

s) submits the provisional results of the RPL2021 to the CCRPL2021 for approval for publication;

The County Census Implementation Unit (UJIR) has the following main tasks:

b) ensures the implementation of the PHC2021 at the county and local level within the territorial limits in which it operates, in carrying out this task ensuring collaboration with local public administration institutions;

c) ensures the implementation at the local level of the decisions of the CCRPL2021 and collaborates with the UCIR in order to carry out all PHC2021 activities in good conditions and within the deadlines set out in the Programme for the implementation of PHC2021 activities;

d) applies the instructions issued at the UCIR level;

e) ensures the judicious management of the resources allocated for the PHC2021;

f) ensures, through various means, the promotion of PHC2021 at county level, provides information to the population on the distribution of census enumerators by census sectors and provides answers to questions on RPL2021 raised locally by media bodies, other institutions and organisations and by the population;

h) ensures the updating of the database on buildings and dwellings, participates in the sectorization of the territory and in the maintenance of the Romania’s dwellings database;

j) ensures the selection and training of census staff at local level, as well as the replacement, as soon as possible, of census staff who become unavailable;

n) ensures the allocation of census staff to census sectors and the appropriate configuration of the tablets;

o) distributes census materials and information materials to municipalities, in order to inform the population about the existence and location of specially set up spaces for the assisted self‑enumeration and their schedule;

p) provide technical and methodological support for the collection of census data, monitors the data collection as well as the activity of coordinators, supervisors and enumerators during their work;

r) provide equipment for the realisation of the assisted self-enumeration of the population, which is installed in specially arranged premises by the municipalities;

s) ensure, with the support of prefects and mayors, the collection of the enumerators’ identity cards, tablets and other auxiliary instruments and materials used by the enumerators, chief enumerators and coordinators, as well as their verification and return to the NIS within 15 days after the end of the data collection activities.

6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing

Two of the specific pieces of legislation regulate the data sharing between NSI and other institutions for the census purposes.

the Government Ordinance (ordinary Law) no. 19/2020 regarding the organization and carry-out of the population and housing census in Romania in 2021 stipulates the list of ministries and other institutions (administrative data sources) which should transfer data and the list of variables each data source should deliver for census purposes. The same piece of legislation stipulates the conditions in which the Personal Identification Numbers can be collected and processed (exclusively) for census statistical purposes;
the Government Decision no. 144/2022 regarding technical specifications for data transmission of data from administrative sources.

The National Supervisory Authority For Personal Data Processing helped and gave advices during all period of specific census legislation’s elaboration.

7.1. Confidentiality - policy

Confidentiality - Regulation (EU) 2017/712 Art 4 and 5

The general statistical policy for statistical confidentiality worked also for PHC2021.

Norms for the protection of personal data were elaborated by NIS specially for PHC2021 and published in Official Journal.

7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment

Confidentiality - Regulation (EU) 2017/712 Art 4 and 5

We used cell supression method as a method for statistical disclosure control.

8.1. Release calendar

The schedule of census release dates:

Provisional results were disseminated on 30th December 2022

Definitive results were planned to be disseminated in stages, starting on 30-th December 2023, as follows:
- usual resident population on demographic characteristics in May 2023
- usual resident population on ethnic-cultural characteristics in June 2023
- usual resident population on educational characteristics in June 2023
- mobility of usual resident population in September 2023
- usual resident population on economic characteristics in October 2023
- households in December 2023
- stock of buildings for living in December 2023
- dwellings and living conditions in December 2023

There were three Press releases for the dissemination of results:

on 30th December 2022 for the main provisional results at national level – available at this website.
on 31st January 2023 for the main provisional results at territorial level – available at this website.
on 31st of May 2023 for the main definitive census results – available at this website.

Each Press release was accompanied by a set of results tables, presenting the main results, available on the census dedicated website.

8.2. Release calendar access

The calendar of the dissemination of the definitive results at national level was approved by the Central Commission for PHC2021 and it is available at this website.

8.3. Release policy - user access

The user access policy for census data is the same policy for user access applied by NIS for any other datasets, according with the requirements of Law no.226/2009.

Information about methodology, national and international census legislation, all sets of questionnaires and other materials used are available on census dedicated website www.recensamantromania.ro. Census results are public. Access to PHC2021 data is possible free of charge for already tabulated results and by cost for special data processing. The payment includes only the operation of data processing (the cost for carry-out of special software for data extraction from the census microdata database in the user’s requested format).

Decennial

Information is provided in the sub-concepts 10.1 - 10.7.

10.1. Dissemination format - News release

All press releases related to the 2021 PHC are available at this website.

10.2. Dissemination format - Publications

All the results are available only electronic, on census website at this website.

A summary of the 2021 census results will be published on a paper publication, called ''2021 round Population and Housing Census - summary results''.

10.3. Dissemination format - online database

Anonymized micro-database will be available after national data publication will be finished, under the general rules of microdata dissemination.

10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access

The access to microdata is allowed by request, for scientific scope, based on a legal Contract for micro-data use. The contract should identify the Contract parts, legal framework, Contract subject, and beneficiary obligations, conditions in which the cancelation of the contract is possible and the ways the litigation are solved.

10.5. Dissemination format - other

Maps presenting the share of the main ethnic groups in Romania from PHC2021 data are available on census website, at this website.

Maps presenting the evolution of ethnic groups in Romania during the last two population and housing censuses are available on NIS website at this website.

Any user can ask for a particular census statistics, special breakdowns, special administrative units etc. These data need by requests are solved as any other data requests inside National Institute of Statistics, respecting the general dissemination policy of Institute.

10.6. Documentation on methodology

Census methodology is described in the following documents, posted on census dedicated website www.recensamantromania.ro:

PHC2021 Enumeration and processing methodology
PHC2021 Sectorization methodology
PHC2021 Statistical imputation methodology
PHC2021 other norms and instructions elaborated by Census Coordination and Implementation Unit

10.7. Quality management - documentation

A Quality Report of the Population and Dwelling Census 2021 round will be available at INS level, in Romanian and English languages, after the publication of all definitive results on the dedicated space on census website.

11.1. Quality assurance

Measures for usual resident population, obtained exactly as the international methodology asked for, are performed starting after 2011 population and dwelling census in the Romanian national statistical system. Therefore, 2021 round data coverage assessment was done by comparing the provisional result with the Estimated usual resident target population at 1st of December 2021 (the census reference date).

Around 1 million individual records were added to the collected ones in order to ensure full coverage. These records were added after a research into the administrative sources, using an algorithm based on signs-of-live which proved, those persons had their usual residence in Romania in the last 12 months before the census reference date. The double and multiple individual records for same person were deleted, also.

We obtain a total of 19,053,815 persons (provisional data) belonging of usual resident population at 1st of December 2021 after total imputation were made. This represent a difference of +30273 persons compared to the estimated usual resident target population.

In the field of quality management, we focus in all census activities on achieving the general objective, i.e. to measure correctly the usual resident population of Romania at 1 December 2021, and on some specific objectives like:

Full coverage of target usual resident population
Maximum limitation of over-coverage
Full enumeration of hard-to-find population categories (because of the language barrier, geographical placement, fear to respond, misunderstandings and so on)
Full enumeration of housing units
Exact measurement of all other statistics

Several actions meant to diminish errors were implemented in all census stages: Design stage, Organization stage, Data collection stage and Data processing and data validation stage.

Due to the fact that 2021 PHC in Romania was a combined one (CAWI, CAPI and use of administration survey), in the Design stage attention was given to aspects which influence the future results (data collected) like:

instruments (questionnaire/ software) were adapted to each channel used to collect data;
design of the questionnaire was adapted to the people’s general understanding; explanations of the concepts were included in the electronic forms; all census methodology was available on the census dedicated website; the training of the enumerators’ trainers was very detailed and touched all census aspects (methodological and technical ones);
length of the questionnaire (balance between the need to collect more variable and the limits persons have to fulfil a questionnaire) was limited to the maximum in order to be tolerated by the respondents;
the data collection software was design as user-friendly as it was possible (equilibrium between the need to include a lot of checks in the questionnaire and the opposite situation, accepting any kind of responses);

In the Organization stage, we had two main concerns related to assure the premises for a full data collection:

to convince as much people as possible to self-registered
to cover all the census areas with enumerators Data collection stage is essential for a quality census.

Therefore, in this stage the most important efforts were done in order to:

train the population - (i) about census (who should be enumerated) and (ii) how to use the data collection platform and electronic questionnaires; select and train the census staff (length, content, use of the tablets, practical examples);
use the properly criteria for census staff selection;
ensure the permanent communication all over the data collection (finding rapidly solutions for problems occurred and communicate it to all persons involved);
determine a positive attitude of population towards census;
use incentives to gain the population participation in census;
build a qualitative statistical infrastructure (dwelling database, street nomenclature, IT infrastructure and so on);
control data in the data collection stage (how strong the control is and how restrictive the control is in order to ensure the respondents will continue to fulfil the electronic forms completely);

Not less important as the previous ones, the Data processing stage involved efforts to:

unite in a single database, using a single format, data collected from three different channels;
eliminate duplicate records; identify the persons who were not enumerated but who belong to the reference population, using an algorithm applied on several administrative data;
control data (how many logical conditions are applied in order to identify all data errors and correct its);
impute totally and partially the record obtained (what methods are applied for it);

11.2. Quality management - assessment

Quality assessment was carried-out after data were cleaned and imputations (total and partial) were applied, by several comparisons. The following issues were checked:

coherence of the 2021 census statistics with the previous one;
coherence of the 2021 census usual residence population with the measures of usual resident population made in current popualtion statistics;
coherene of the employed population and other economic variables with the current statistics from Labor Force Survey;
coherence of the population attending education with shool population statistics currently produced in official statistics and so on.

11.2.1. Coverage assessment

The coverage assessment was based on the closeness of the measured usual resident population to the estimated target population and on the estimation of under- and over-coverage.

The measured usual resident population represents 100.2% from the estimated target population.

The under-coverage was solved by adding (total imputation) into the census database new records for persons not enumerated, for whom the algorithm applied on several administrative data sources indicated that persons belong to the usual resident population of Romania at the census reference date. Accordingly, new dwelling and household records were added in the corresponding databases. Records for persons who died before enumerators’ visits took place but after census reference date (1st of December 2021) were added into the census database.

Over-coverage was treated by deletion of records which refer to children born after the census reference date.

11.2.2. Post-enumeration survey(s)

The post-enumeration survey was conducted between August 8 and 19, 2022 on a sample of about 44 thousand addresses and, implicitly households and persons in these dwellings, in selected census sectors from urban and rural areas of all counties of the country.

The survey also included communal-living shared housing units: boarding schools, children's homes, student and workers' dormitories, retirement homes, etc., but not hotel-type shared housing units (hotels, motels, tourist hostels, guest houses, inns, hospitals, sanatoriums, preventoria, centres for victims of domestic violence, etc.).

There were sampled two census sectors in each county (one rural sector and one urban sector).

In every census sector included in the sample were enumerated all dwellings, households and persons who fell within the census coverage.

Post-enumeration survey responses were recorded in the field, at the usual residence of the persons, by a specially selected enumerator, using the face-to-face interviews.

12.1. Relevance - User Needs

The PHC2021 was designed in order to fulfil the requirements of the main data users (government, public institutions, local public administration, academia, general public and so on) and to comply with European Union legislation. Another target was to continue time series for specific indicators in order to ensure the time comparability between censuses. New data users’ requests were analysed and the inclusion of new indicators in census forms was conditioned by some restrictions:

The requested indicators / variables/ questions to be related to the themes of population and housing census
The existence of a better source (or a potential new data source) for the requested indicator / variable
The requested indicators / variables to represent a data need at national or international level
The requested indicators / variables to have a relative importance for a significant number of users
The added variables/ questions not to increase the respondent burden for population significantly

More detailed ways for dwelling heating were included in PHC2021 in order to be able to respond to the requests of the Regulation (EC) no. 1099/2008 of European Parliament and of the Council regarding energy statistics.

Questions regarding the use of new renewable energy (solar panels, aeolian system) were included in the dwelling section of the electronic questionnaire at the request of the Ministry of Public Works, Development and Administration.

Some relatively low important questions from the previous census were not included in the PHC2021 in order to ensure a tolerable respondent burden (the second country of citizenship, for example).

12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction

A specific user satisfaction survey for census wasn’t carry-out in NIS. However, we analysed the census data requests received by NIS in the last ten years, when data on conventional dwellings, type of dwellings and the endowment with utilities, type of heating, sewerage system and other variables were very often requested, especially at local level.

12.3. Completeness

Completeness is the key feature of a census. The final goal is that every person belonging to the usual resident population at the reference census date, every dwelling, every household and every family nuclei to be enumerated ones and only ones.

There are many steps and actions which can be done in order to ensure the data will be complete. Some of the main actions carried-out by NIS in order to increase completeness are:

develop and implement a communication and promotion strategy in order to reach different typologies of people and to change the public negative perception into positive ones;
empower the central and local public authorities about the importance of census and their engagement census in organization;
increase people awareness of the importance of each person’s participation in the census and of the sincere answers;
train the census staff not only about the technical/ statistical concepts and definitions, but also how to obtain the public participation;

From the technical point of view, there are also several methods used to increase completeness such as:

Use of a good territorial sectorization in order to include all country’s surface into census areas (inclusive isolated areas from mountains, depopulated villages or Danube Delta); this depends mainly on the quality of the information gathered to build the database of dwellings and buildings (called WebGis), special designed and implemented for census purposes in Romanian statistical office
Use as much as many administrative data sources in order to obtain a maximum coverage of the country’s population; the sum of all administrative data sources will offer a good base for solving the under-coverage
Compare, in real time, the number of fulfilled questionnaires with the estimated target population to identify towns/ villages where a significant number of people was not yet enumerated
Conduct a real, effective pilot census, which verify as much as possible the main instruments and processes of the census