Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

F2 - Population

European Commission – EUROSTAT

Unit F2 – Population

BECH Building – 5, Rue Alphonse Weiker 

L- 2721 Luxembourg

The 2011 Population and Housing Census marks a milestone in census exercises in Europe. For the first time, European legislation defined in detail a set of harmonised high-quality data from the population and housing censuses conducted in the EU Member States. As a result, the data from the 2011 round of censuses offer exceptional flexibility to cross-tabulate different variables and to provide geographically detailed data.

EU Member States have developed different methods to produce these census data.  The national differences reflect the specific national situations in terms of data source availability, as well as the administrative practices and traditions of that country.

The EU census legislation respects this diversity. The Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on population and housing censuses (Regulation (EC) No 763/2008) is focussed on output harmonisation rather than input harmonisation. Member States are free to assess for themselves how to conduct their 2011 censuses and which data sources, methods and technology should be applied given the national context. This gives the Member States flexibility, in line with the principles of subsidiarity and efficiency, and with the competences of the statistical institutes in the Member States.

However, certain important conditions must be met in order to achieve the objective of comparability of census data from different Member States and to assess the data quality:

Regulation (EC) No 1201/20092 contains definitions and technical specifications for the census topics (variables) and their breakdowns that are required to achieve Europe-wide comparability.

The specifications are based closely on international recommendations and have been designed to provide the best possible information value. The census topics include geographic, demographic, economic and educational characteristics of persons, international and internal migration characteristics as well as household, family and housing characteristics.

Regulation (EU) No 519/2010 requires the data outputs that Member States transmit to the Eurostat to comply with a defined programme of statistical data (tabulation) and with set rules concerning the replacement of statistical data. The content of the EU census programme serves major policy needs of the European Union. Regionally, there is a strong focus on the NUTS 2 level. The data requirements are adapted to the level of regional detail. The Regulation does not require transmission of any data that the Member States consider to be confidential.

The statistical data must be completed by metadata that will facilitate interpretation of the numerical data, including country-specific definitions plus information on the data sources and on methodological issues. This is necessary in order to achieve the transparency that is a condition for valid interpretation of the data.

Users of output-harmonised census data from the EU Member States need to have detailed information on the quality of the censuses and their results.

Regulation (EU) No 1151/2010) therefore requires transmission of a quality report containing a systematic description of the data sources used for census purposes in the Member States and of the quality of the census results produced from these sources. A comparably structured quality report for all EU Member States will support the exchange of experience from the 2011 round and become a reference for future development of census methodology (EU legislation on the 2011 Population and Housing Censuses - Explanatory Notes ).

In order to ensure proper transmission of the data and metadata and provide user-friendly access to this information, a common technical format is set for transmission for all Member States and for the Commission (Eurostat). The Regulation therefore requires the data to be transmitted in a harmonised structure and in the internationally established SDMX format from every Member State. In order to achieve this harmonised transmission, a new system has been developed – the CENSUS HUB.

The Census Hub is a conceptually new system used for the dissemination of the 2011 Census. It is based on the concept of data sharing, where a group of partners (Eurostat on one hand and National Statistical Institutes on the other) agree to provide access to their data according to standard processes, formats and technologies.

The Census Hub is a readily-accessible system that provided the following functions:

• Data providers (the NSIs) can make data available directly from their systems through a querying system. In parallel,

• Data users browse the hub to define a dataset of interest via the above structural metadata and retrieve the dataset from the NSIs.

From the data management point of view, the hub is based on agreed hypercubes (data-sets in the form of multi-dimensional aggregations). The hypercubes are not sent to the central system. Instead the following process operates:

1. a user defines a dataset through the web interface of the central hub and requests it;

2. the central hub translates the user request in one or more queries and sends them to the related NSIs’ systems;

3. NSIs’ systems process the query and send the result to the central hub in a standard format;

4. the central hub puts together all the results sent by the NSI systems and presents them in a user-specified format.

ISCO-08, NACE Rev. 2, etc.

Usual residence means 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.
Persons usually resident in the place of enumeration but absent, or expected to be absent, at the time of the census for less than one year shall be considered as temporarily absent persons and thus included in the total unsually population. In contrast, persons living or expected to live outside the place of enumeration for one year or more shall not be considered temporarily absent and shall therefore be excluded from the total population. This is regardless of the length of visits that they may pay to their families from time to time.
Persons who are enumerated but do not meet the criteria for usual 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 period of at least 12 months, are considered temporarily present and are therefore not counted in the total usually resident population.

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files.

Male/Female

The age reached at the reference date (in completed years).

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files.

Marital status is the (legal) conjugal status of an individual in relation to the marriage laws of the country (de jure status).
A person shall be classified according to his/her most recently acquired legal marital status at the reference date.
'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.
In countries where the legislation includes provisions for married partners to be 'legally separated', such 'legally separated' persons are classified under 'married'.

The family nucleus is defined in the 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.

Private households may be defined according to the 'housekeeping concept' , or, if this is not possible, Member States may apply the 'household-dwelling' concept.
1. Housekeeping concept
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.
2. Household-dwelling concept
The household-dwelling concept considers all persons living in a housing unit to be members of the same household, such that there is one household per occupied housing unit. In the household dwelling concept, then, the number of occupied housing units and the number of households occupying them is equal, and the locations of the housing units and house­ holds are identical.
The category 'Persons living in a private household' comprises 'Persons in a family nucleus' and 'Persons not in a family nucleus'. The category 'Persons in a family nucleus' comprises all persons who belong to a private household that contains a family nucleus of which they are a member. 'Persons not in a family nucleus' comprises all persons who either belong to a non-family household or to a family household without being member of any family nucleus in that household.
A non-family household can be a one-person household ('Living alone') or a multiperson household without any family nucleus. The category 'Not living alone' comprises persons that live either in a multiperson household without any family nucleus or in a family household without being member of any family nucleus in that household. Persons who belong to a skip-generation household and who are not member of any family nucleus in that household shall be classified in the optional category 'Persons living in a household with relative(s)'.
The term 'son/daughter' is defined as the term 'child' in the technical specifications for the topic 'Family status'. 'Husband/wife couple' means a married opposite-sex couple.
'Registered partnership' is defined as in the technical specifications for the topic 'Legal marital status'. 'Consensual union' is defined as in the technical specifications for the topic 'Family status'.
The category 'Partners' comprises 'Persons in a married couple', 'Partners in a registered partnership' and 'Partners in a consensual union'.
'Primary homeless persons' are persons living in the streets without a shelter that would fall within the scope of living quarters as defined in the technical specifications for the topic 'Type of living quarters'.

Current activity status' is the current relationship of a person to economic activity, based on a reference period of one week, which may be either a specified, recent, fixed, calendar week, or the last complete calendar week, or the last seven days prior to enumeration.
The 'currently economically active population' comprises all persons who fulfil the requirements for inclusion among the employed or the unemployed.
'Employed' persons comprise all persons aged 15 years or over who during the reference week:
(a) performed at least one hour of work for pay or profit, in cash or in kind, or
(b) were temporarily absent from a job in which they had already worked and to which they maintained a formal attachment, or from a self-employment activity.
The 'unemployed' comprise all persons aged 15 years or over who were:
(a) 'without work', that is, were not in wage employment or self-employment during the reference week; and
(b) 'currently available for work', that is, were available for wage employment or self-employment during the reference week and for two weeks after that; and
(c) 'seeking work', that is, had taken specific steps to seek wage employment or self-employment within four weeks ending with the reference week.
The category 'Currently not economically active' includes persons below the national minimum age for economic activity.
In ascribing a single activity status to each person, priority is given to the status of 'employed' in preference to 'unemployed', and to the status of 'unemployed' in preference to 'not economically active'.

Occupation' refers to the type of work done in a job (that is the main tasks and duties of the work). Persons doing more than one job are allocated an occupation based on their main job, which is identified according to the time spent on the job or, if not available, to the income received.
The breakdown by occupation 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 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.

Industry (branch of economic activity) is the kind of production or activity of the establishment (or similar unit) in which the job of a currently economically active person is located.
Persons doing more than one job shall be allocated an industry (branch of economic activity) based on their main job, which is to be 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.
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, and have never worked before (i.e. 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.

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'.
If a person is both employer and employee, he/she shall be allocated to only one group according to the time spent on the job or (if not available) the income received.
An 'own-account worker' is a person who, working on his/her own account or with one or a few partners, holds a 'self-employment job' and has not engaged, on a continuous basis (including the reference week), any 'employees'.
A 'contributing family worker' is a person who
— holds a 'self-employment’ job in a market-oriented establishment operated by a related person, living in the same household, and
— cannot be regarded as a partner (that is an employer or own-account worker) because the degree of commitment to the operation of the establishment, in terms of working time or other factors to be determined by national circumstances, is not at a level comparable to that of the head of the establishment.
A 'member of a producers' cooperative' is a person who holds a 'self-employment' job in an establishment organised as a coop­ erative, in which each member takes part on an equal footing with other members in determining the organisation of production, sales and/or other work, the investments and the distribution of the proceeds among the members.

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.

'Educational attainment' refers to the highest level successfully completed in the educational system of the country where the education was received. All education which is relevant to the completion of a level is taken into account even if this was provided outside schools and universities.
Persons aged 15 years or over are classified under only one of the categories according to their educational attainment (highest completed level). Persons under the age of 15 years are classified under 'not applicable'.

A locality is defined as a distinct population cluster, that is an area defined by population living in neighbouring or contiguous buildings. Such buildings may either:
(a) form a continuous built-up area with a clearly recognisable street formation; or
(b) though not part of such a built-up area, comprise a group of buildings to which a locally recognised place name is uniquely attached; or
(c) though not meeting either of the above two criteria, constitute a group of buildings, none of which is separated from its nearest neighbour by more than 200 metres.

Place of birth is defined as the place of usual residence of the mother at the time of the birth, or, if not available, as the place in which the birth took place.
Information on the country of birth is based on the international boundaries existing on 1 January 2011. 'EU Member State', in particular, means a country that is a member of the European Union on 1 January 2011. The list of countries in the breakdown 'country/place of birth' serves only for statistical purposes.
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.

Citizenship is defined as the particular legal bond between an individual and his/her State, acquired by birth or naturalisation, 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; or
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 2011. 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'.
Persons who are neither citizens of any country nor stateless and who have some but not all of the rights and duties associated with citizenship shall be classified under 'recognised non-citizens'.

The year of arrival is the calendar year in which a person most recently established usual residence in the country. The data for 2011 refer to the time span between 1 January 2011 and the reference date.

This indicates the relationship between the current place of usual residence and the place of usual residence one year prior to the census. Children under one year of age are classified under 'Not applicable'.
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 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.
Occupants are persons with their usual residence in the places listed in the respective category.
'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.
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).

The family nucleus is defined in the 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.

The family nucleus is defined in the 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.

Private households may be defined according to the 'housekeeping concept' , or, if this is not possible, Member States may apply the 'household-dwelling' concept.
1. Housekeeping concept
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.
2. Household-dwelling concept
The household-dwelling concept considers all persons living in a housing unit to be members of the same household, such that there is one household per occupied housing unit. In the household dwelling concept, then, the number of occupied housing units and the number of households occupying them is equal, and the locations of the housing units and house­ holds are identical.
The category 'Persons living in a private household' comprises 'Persons in a family nucleus' and 'Persons not in a family nucleus'. The category 'Persons in a family nucleus' comprises all persons who belong to a private household that contains a family nucleus of which they are a member. 'Persons not in a family nucleus' comprises all persons who either belong to a non-family household or to a family household without being member of any family nucleus in that household.
A non-family household can be a one-person household ('Living alone') or a multiperson household without any family nucleus. The category 'Not living alone' comprises persons that live either in a multiperson household without any family nucleus or in a family household without being member of any family nucleus in that household. Persons who belong to a skip-generation household and who are not member of any family nucleus in that household shall be classified in the optional category 'Persons living in a household with relative(s)'.
The term 'son/daughter' is defined as the term 'child' in the technical specifications for the topic 'Family status'. 'Husband/wife couple' means a married opposite-sex couple.
'Registered partnership' is defined as in the technical specifications for the topic 'Legal marital status'. 'Consensual union' is defined as in the technical specifications for the topic 'Family status'.
The category 'Partners' comprises 'Persons in a married couple', 'Partners in a registered partnership' and 'Partners in a consensual union'.
'Primary homeless persons' are persons living in the streets without a shelter that would fall within the scope of living quarters as defined in the technical specifications for the topic 'Type of living quarters'.

Private households may be defined according to the 'housekeeping concept' , or, if this is not possible, Member States may apply the 'household-dwelling' concept.
1. Housekeeping concept
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.
2. Household-dwelling concept
The household-dwelling concept considers all persons living in a housing unit to be members of the same household, such that there is one household per occupied housing unit. In the household dwelling concept, then, the number of occupied housing units and the number of households occupying them is equal, and the locations of the housing units and house­ holds are identical.
The category 'Persons living in a private household' comprises 'Persons in a family nucleus' and 'Persons not in a family nucleus'. The category 'Persons in a family nucleus' comprises all persons who belong to a private household that contains a family nucleus of which they are a member. 'Persons not in a family nucleus' comprises all persons who either belong to a non-family household or to a family household without being member of any family nucleus in that household.
A non-family household can be a one-person household ('Living alone') or a multiperson household without any family nucleus. The category 'Not living alone' comprises persons that live either in a multiperson household without any family nucleus or in a family household without being member of any family nucleus in that household. Persons who belong to a skip-generation household and who are not member of any family nucleus in that household shall be classified in the optional category 'Persons living in a household with relative(s)'.
The term 'son/daughter' is defined as the term 'child' in the technical specifications for the topic 'Family status'. 'Husband/wife couple' means a married opposite-sex couple.
'Registered partnership' is defined as in the technical specifications for the topic 'Legal marital status'. 'Consensual union' is defined as in the technical specifications for the topic 'Family status'.
The category 'Partners' comprises 'Persons in a married couple', 'Partners in a registered partnership' and 'Partners in a consensual union'.
'Primary homeless persons' are persons living in the streets without a shelter that would fall within the scope of living quarters as defined in the technical specifications for the topic 'Type of living quarters'.

The topic 'Tenure status of households' refers to the arrangements under which a private household occupies all or part of a housing unit.
Households that are in the process of paying off a mortgage on the housing unit in which they live or purchasing their housing unit over time under other financial arrangementsare classified under 'Households of which at least one member is the owner of the housing unit'.
Households of which at least one member is the owner of the housing unit and at least one member tenant of all or part of the housing unit are classified under category 'Households of which at least one member is the owner of the housing unit'.

'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.

'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.
Conventional dwellings with persons present but not included in the census are classified under the category 'Dwellings reserved for seasonal or secondary use'.

The topic 'Type of ownership' refers to the ownership of the dwelling and not to that of the land on which the dwelling stands.
'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.

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

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'.
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 metres at least) and at least 2 metres high over the major area of the ceiling.

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 metres at least) and at least 2 metres high over the major area of the ceiling.

The topic ‘Density standard’ relates the useful floor space in square metres or the number of rooms to the number of occupants, as specified under the topic 'Number of occupants'.
Data report on the density standard measured by the 'useful floor space', or, if not possible, by the 'number of rooms'.

The topic ‘Density standard’ relates the useful floor space in square metres or the number of rooms to the number of occupants, as specified under the topic 'Number of occupants'.
Data report on the density standard measured by the 'useful floor space', or, if not possible, by the 'number of rooms'.

Water supply system available in the housing unit

Toilet facilities available in the housing unit

A bathing facility is any facility designed to wash the whole body and includes shower facilities.

A housing unit 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 housing unit, established for heating purposes, without regard to the source of energy.

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

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

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 usually resident in the territory of the reporting country at the census reference date. Usual residence means 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. For national differences, please refer to the national metadata files.

Data are available at different levels of geographical detail: national (European Union 28 Member States, European Free Trade Association Member States (4)), NUTS2, NUTS3 and local administrative units (LAU2)

Data refer to the situation in the reporting country at the census reference date

Counts of statistical units

The Council of the European Union and the European Parlaiment have adopted in 2008 the Regulation (EC) N. 763/2008 on Population and Housing Census containing the concepts to be used in the census exercises. The methodogical elements of this Regulation acknowledge the Conference of European Statician (CES) Recommendations for 2010 Round of Population and Housing Censuses [ Source: Lanzieri G. (2009), A Framework for the EU Census Quality Reporting and Assessment].

Regulation (EC) N. 763/2008 lists all the topics to be covered in census exercises which are: geographic, demographic, economic and educational characteristics of persons, internatioanal and internal migration characteristics as well as household, family and housing characteristics.

However, Regulation (EC) N. 763/2008 does not stipulate how the census topics are to be broken down. Nor does it specify the census topics in any further detail. Article 5(4) asks the European Commission to do this by means of an implementing Regulation which, for the 2011 round, is Commission Regulation (EC) N. 1201/2009. The aim of this Regulation is that in every Member State the data about the census topics should follow the same definitions and technical specifications and the same breakdowns should be published. This is a pre-condition for Europe comparability [Source: Eurostat (2011), EU legislation on the 2011 Population and Housing Censuses, ISBN: 978 - 92 - 79 - 19717 - 8] .

Specific legal acts implemenyting Regulation (EC) 763/2008 are:

- R 1201/2009 (L 329/29 du 15.12.2009)

- R 519/2010 (L 151/1 du 17.06.2010)

- R 1151/2010 (L 324/1 du 09.12.2010)

National Statistical Institutes

In agreement with national data suppliers, the census data provided to Eurostat do not include confidential data.

National Statistical Institutes assess the data for potential statistical disclosure risks and undertake any necessary measures to avoid disclosure.

Decisions regarding disclosure risk and the selection and implementation of disclosure control methods rest with the National Statistical Institutes.

Data were made available 27 months after the end of the reference period (March 2014)

In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on its website respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably.

Data on population and housing censuses are disseminated every decade

Please consult Eurostat's website

For national press releases, please refer to national metadata files.

Please consult Eurostat's website.

Information relative to the national publications concerning the 2011 census can be found in national metadata files.

Census 2011 data can be accessed via the Census Hub

Eurostat does not disseminate micro-data.

Not applicable

Information on the methodology can be found in the following documents:

EU legislation on the 2011 Population and Housing Censuses - Explanatory Notes

Conference of European Statisticians Recommendations for the 2010 Censuses of Population and Housing

Quality assurance has been done at national level. Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) 763/2008 states that:

Member States shall provide the Commission (Eurostat) with final, validated and aggregated data and with metadata […]

However, Article 6(3) Regulation (EC) 763/2008 states that:

In applying the quality assessment […] The Commission (Eurostat) shall assess the quality of the data transmitted

This quality check is not strictly speaking a step of "data validation". As part of theis quality assessment, Eurostat addressed:

Plausibility of the reported population count

Coherence among the counts of the different statistical units covered by the census

Analysis of the joint distribution of selected pairs of census variables

Checks of the census metadata

Completeness of the information provided

Compliance with the requirements of the EU census legislation

Not applicable on EU level. Please refer to national metadata files.

Not applicable on EU level. Please refer to national metadata files.

The census data disseminated by Eurostat are addressed to policy makers, researchers, media and the general public.

No user satisfaction surveys are carried out. User inquiries are handled by the Eurostat User Support service.

Depends on the availability of data transmitted by the National Statistical Institutes.

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files.

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

There are no particular reasons for data unreliability for this topic

Unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files

Most of the data has been delivered 27 months (march 2014) after the reference date.

Data are comparable at national, NUTS3, NUTS2 and LAU2 level unless otherwise stated in the national metadata files.

Over time, countries have made changes to the census methodologies and data sources, as well as to the basic concepts and definitions used. These changes will impact on the comparability of data over time.

Figures provided by the National Statistical Institutes in the framework of the 2011 Population and Housing Census may differ from those transmitted in other statistical domains due to the cross domain differences in definitions and methodologies used.  For additional information please see metadata specific to each domain.

Internal coherence is assured by regulations defining breakdowns and definitions of topics (Regulation (EC) No 1201/2009, Regulation (EU) No 519/2010, Regulation (EU) No 1151/2010)

Not applicable. Please refer to national metadata files.

Not applicable. please refer to national metadata files.

Data on population and housing censuses are collected every decade, in a reference year that falls during the beginning of every decade

Data tables presented here are only a small subset of the complete Census 2011 data that is accessible through the Census Hub application

Data has been extracted from the Census hub, validated and then made accessible to users via the Eurostat database.

Validation of census data is under the sole responsibility of Member States

Not applicable – due to process design  and national differences, see MSs files for descriptions of individual practices.