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National reference metadata

Spain

Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.

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City statistics (urb)

National Reference Metadata in Euro SDMX Metadata Structure (ESMS)

Compiling agency: National Statistics Institute (INE).

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The Urban Audit Project, named as data collection for sub-national statistics (mainly cities), is based on a collection of data, providing information and comparable measurements on the different aspects of the quality of urban life in cities.

The projects' ultimate goal is to contribute towards the improvement of the quality of urban life: it supports the exchange of experience among European cities; it helps to identify best practices; it facilitates benchmarking at the European level and provides information on the dynamics within the cities and with their surroundings.

Directed by the European Commission Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy via Eurostat and developed by the National Statistics Institutes of the Member States, its main purpose is the collection, estimation and publishing of socio-economic statistical data in order to know and measure the quality of life in a specific amount of territories.

The Urban Audit Project requires that the INE collects and supplies Eurostat with a wide range of variables regarding the economic, demographic and social situation of most Spanish medium and large-sized cities (municipalities). The Urban Audit collection currently contains 137 variables and a huge number of indicators. These indicators are derived from the variables collected by the European Statistical System. Nevertheless, dissemination via the INE website is restricted to a selection of 39 indicators.

13 March 2024

For most variables the definitons of the  City statistics manual have been followed. The coherence and compliance of our methodologies with the glossary is rather good. Obviously in all cases that is required to apply an estimation method, there is not a standard way to follow, but we assure that the results obtained are quite reliable and coherent with those we would expect. 

Since the information is collected from different registers, censuses and social and economic surveys, the statistical unit is applicable to each one of these statistics.

As the information is collected from different registers, censuses and social and economic surveys, it is not applicable to a single statistical population. The statistical population corresponds to these registers, censuses and surveys used as sources of information. The indicators refer to the statistical population established in each one of the statistics and surveys. Nevertheless, It may be stated that for most of the variables, the objective statistical universe are the regular residents of a specific geographical area.

For Spain, information is collected in the following scopes:

  • At City level, with 98 cities.
  • At FUA level, with 81 areas.

2021 and 2022 are the reference years for the main data collection. It exits information of all the years after 2001, as well as for 1996 and 1991, that were the reference of the compilation denominated "historical". However, the publication on the INE website will only present information from 2010 onwards. The reference periods 2021 and 2022 are part of the current round of data collection.

Since it is a publication that is obtained from several statistical sources, in some cases the latter may be affected by various errors. The main guarantee in the accuracy of the provided information is the existence of expert groups with a thorough knowledge of the different statistical sources and their problems as well as their interrelations. These groups adjust to the regulations and different methodologies and work to obtain reliable data.

The unit of measurement varies from indicator to indicator; from variable to variable. For most indicators and variables the unit of measure is number of persons or percentage.

The National Statistics Offices collect the data. All the available statistical data (INE, municipal authorities, etc) are collected and sent to Eurostat. Unfortunately, not all information is directly available. Many variables have to be estimated or adjusted to the established definitions and this is the task that specifically constitutes the great added value of the Project. In the INE almost all surveys have a regional breakdown, at NUTS 2 or NUTS 3 level, but the municipal level is much more difficult to obtain. The Census, the population registers and the Economically Active Population Survey are some of the main sources on which the estimations are based.

The Urban Audit project requires that the INE supplies a wide range of indicators regarding the economic, demographic and social situations of the Spanish municipalities. This information shall be provided at highly broken down levels over an annual base, even though the frequency can be extended depending on the type of variable.

The need to carry out calculations in different aggregation levels is an essential factor in the determination of the estimation process, since there has to be a formal coherence in the figures at different aggregation levels. In this way, when calculating the value of a variable given for the city of Barcelona, this estimation has to be coherent with the estimation calculated for the FUA (Functional Urban Area) of Barcelona. For this reason, the methodological proposals that have been developed are based on the estimation of all Spanish municipalities, and subsequently the FUAs are calculated by means of the aggregation of the municipal figures.

In all cases, the calculation proposals combine the use of the administrative registers and the statistical techniques based on modelling. The following scenarios are distinguished:
• The relevant variable is an administrative register in itself.
• The relevant variable may be obtained by means of the direct estimation based on sampling data.
• The relevant variable is available via the sampling information, but not at the breakdown level required for the Urban Audit project.
Of the aforementioned cases, the most relevant is the third case. Sampling information is available at a greater level of aggregation and there is an administrative register that allows carrying out the necessary calculations.

For example, to estimate the Economically Active population based on the EAPS data, the sample is obtained classified by economically active persons, provinces, age and sex, and the data is quarterly. With this sample, the probability of being economically active depending on the age and province of residence is calculated for each quarter and sex. To do so, a Generalized linear mixed model is used for the binary response variable considering a random effect, the province. Once the probabilities are estimated for a quarter, they are applied to the population estimated for the demographic variables at municipal level by age and sex. To obtain the municipal Economically active persons, this population is multiplied by the probability of that same age, sex and province to which the municipality belongs. The economically active persons are obtained by calculating the average quarterly economically active persons for that year. When grouping at provincial level the estimations obtained, the results are similar to those of the figures of economically active persons of the EAPS, in which the bigger the group means the better the approximation.

In most cases, the data has been obtained from the censuses, the different administrative and statistical registers as well as the national and local databases. Another important part of the work is obtained by applying different estimation methods.

For the information included in this publication, the main registers used are the following:

  • Municipal Register of Inhabitants.
  • Land Registry.
  • AEAT (Spanish Tax Administration Agency) via the INE-AEAT agreement, based on the ERGEO request.
  • SEPE (Spanish Public Employment Service).
  • Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport.
  • National Geographic Institute (IGN).

The Population and Housing Censuses are the most relevant source of information used for the data whose collection is direct as well as for the estimation processes applied. In these processes, besides the Censuses and Municipal Register, the Economically Active Population Survey constitutes another one of the most important sources. Others surveys and statistics that serve as a source of data are the VS (Vital Statistics) and the Hotel Occupancy Survey. The CBR (Central Business Register) is another set of information used by some indicators.

Data frequency is 3 years, however some indicators are compiled annually. The Eurostat database is updated every quarter, depending on the availability of new and revised data. Dissemination in the INE will also depend on the availability of the information, but it is expected to be once a year.

Generally speaking, the time that elapses between the reference date of the data and the publishing of statistical results is approximately 24 months.

From the published data point of view, the geographical comparability depends on the territorial level:

At municipal level, the results of the information that is directly available are perfectly comparable due to the fact that the procedure is the same. If the information requires an estimation, the method used is understood to produce comparable results for a specific geographical level. Comparability is also performed in the supramunicipal and conurbation levels. At sub-municipal level, comparability shall be performed between the different districts or areas, within the municipality in question.

Nevertheless, data comparability among European territorial levels is limited and not always possible, sometimes due to the drifting of definitions, the use of different data sources and application of estimation methods that are completely different. In any case, to avoid erroneous comparisons, the information on data sources and the statistical base is always explained in the set of data.

The continuity of the methodology applied since the beginning of the fifth data collection cycle of the Urban Audit Project allows better comparability over time since 2010, ie in most cases the data are comparable in time because it has been used The same source in order to preserve a chronological series throughout the collection. In a few variables, the breaks in the time series are conveniently explained. Some domains where the methodology has not been modified over time are demography, nationality, employment by activity categories, education or tourism.

It has been taken 2010 as the starting year for the publication of indicators in the INE website, allowing the creation of a time series in most of them. During the years prior to that date, the Project did not have enough stability, as there were frequent methodological breaks. Therefore, it was not considered convenient to provide information.