EUROSTAT, the statistical office of the European Union

F2, Population and Migration

2920 Luxembourg LUXEMBOURG

Population and housing censuses in the European Union Member States are based on European statistical legislation that sets out key statistical definitions and the data and metadata to be produced by EU countries. According to Article 5 of  the Regulation (EC) No 763/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council: ‘Member States shall provide the Commission (Eurostat) with final, validated and aggregated data and with metadata,as required by this Regulation, within 27 months of the end of the reference year.’. 

Complete and detailed data from the 2021 population and housing census, will, therefore, be available shortly after 31 March 2024. 

In order to provide users with more timely census statistics, Eurostat, together with the National Statistical Institutes of EU Member States and EFTA countries, has prepared a voluntary collection of preliminary census 2021 data. 

Data presented in these tables are the preliminary results of the national 2021 censuses that took place in EU Member States and EFTA countries (reference dates of Census 2021 for all countries can be found in Concept: 5. Reference Period).  These preliminary results are subject to possible data revisions in March 2024 and even later.

These data present total population by sex (Total, Male, Female) and broad age groups (Total, <15, 15-29, 30-49, 50-64, 65-84, 85+) at national, NUTS 2 and NUTS 3 levels.

Classifications are defined and listed in the EU Implementing Regulation 2017/543 on population and housing censuses as regards the technical specifications of the topics and of their breakdowns.

Total population by sex and broad age group.

Statistical concepts and definitions - Usual residence

'usual residence’ shall mean 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; or

(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.

Statistical concepts and definitions - Sex

Male/Female

Statistical concepts and definitions - Age

The age reached in completed years of age at the reference date.

Persons

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

Reference area covers the European Union Member States (27) and EFTA countries (4). 

Data are available at different levels of geographical detail: national, NUTS 2 and NUTS 3.

Data for Extra-Regio NUTS classification, according to the Annex (m) of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/543,  refer to the national military, naval and diplomatic  service personnel and their families.  Where the duration of residence outside of the country can be established for national military, naval and diplomatic service personnel and their families located outside the country if they are residing abroad for at least 12 months or if they are not intending to return to the place of departure (although returning in the country within a 12-month period). In these cases, they shall be attributed to a ‘virtual place’ (extra-region) of the country of departure.

For Greece, the Extra-Regio NUTS classification refers to the population of Agion Oros (Mt Athos) as a self-administrative part of Greece.

The data refer to the situation in the reporting countries at the census reference date in 2021.

Not applicable.

Number of persons

Data refer to the situation in the reporting country at the following reference dates:

• EU regulation 763/2008 on population and housing censuses

• EU implementing regulation 2017/881 on population and housing censuses, as regards the modalities and structure of the quality reports and the technical format for data transmission

• EU regulation 2017/712 establishing the reference year and the programme of the statistical data and metadata for population and housing censuses 

• EU implementing regulation 2017/543 on population and housing censuses as regards the technical specifications of the topics and of their breakdowns

None

In agreement with the National Statistical Institutes, census data provided to Eurostat do not include confidential data.

Prior to sending data to Eurostat, the National Statistical Institutes assess the data for potential statistical disclosure risks and undertake necessary confidentiality actions to avoid disclosure.

Decisions regarding disclosure risk and the selection and implementation of statistical disclosure control methods rest with the national data suppliers.

Complete detailed data will be available 27 months after the end of the reference period (March 2024)

Eurostat website: Eurostat Release Calendar

In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website (see point 10 - 'Accessibility and clarity') respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. 

All the data from the 2021 EU population and housing census will be available in the Census Hub, the main tool for dissemination of census data, by 31 March 2024.

Selected tables will also be published in Eurostat’s online database, shortly after the final data provision deadline.

Data from the population and housing censuses are disseminated every decade.

Final Census 2021 data will be available in March 2024. 

On-line news article and Statistics Explained articles.

Please consult Eurostat's website: Population and housing censuses

Eurostat does not have micro-data from the population and housing censuses.

Not applicable.

Population and housing censuses – methodology

EU legislation on the 2021 population and housing censuses — explanatory notes

National reference metadata files and quality reports as well as other information will be published shortly after the end of March 2024.

National quality reports as well as other information will be published shortly after the end of March 2024.

Population and housing censuses - database

National Statistical Institutes must ensure that the census statistical practices used are compliant with the census methodological requirements. According to Article 3 of  Regulation (EC) No 2017/881 of the European Parliament and of the Council: 'Member States shall report to the Commission (Eurostat), by 31 March 2024, background information and quality-related data and metadata specified in the Annex to this Regulation, with reference to their population and housing censuses for the reference year 2021 and to the data and metadata transmitted to the Commission (Eurostat) under Regulation (EU) 2017/712'.

The quality management at national level is described in the national quality reports.

Eurostat undertakes consistency checks on totals and subtotals as well as identifying and reviewing outlying results.

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

Not applicable.

As of 10 October 2023, provisional data are available for 27 EU Member States and 4 EFTA countries.

Data for Greece (EL) are only available for Age Total.

Data for Ireland (IE) are only available for Age Total and Sex Total.

Overall accuracy for the 2021 census data will be reviewed following the full availability of data and national metadata after March 2024.

Information will be available in the national quality reports after March 2024.

Information will be available in the national quality reports after March 2024.

The complete census 2021 data will be delivered by 31^st March 2024.

The data were collected on a voluntary basis by the end of February 2023.

Detailed information will be available after March 2024.

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 have an impact on the comparability of data over time.

For certain register-based census countries, the 2021 census data are identical to the annual demographic statistics for the same reference year, as these countries do not undertake a separate census data collection exercise.   

For certain countries, there are minor differences between these preliminary census data and the 1km square grid data based on the 2021 census. These differences are due to the differing application of statistical disclosure control methods on the different data sets.

Not applicable.

In line with the general Eurostat revision policy, the following specific revision policy has been established for population and housing census statistics.  This is specified under Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 763/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and applies to both the 2011 and 2021 censuses.

Member States shall inform Eurostat of any revision or correction of the statistics, as well as any changes to the data sources and methodology used, no later than one month before the release of the revised data.

In the event of such a revision or correction, Member States shall transmit the modified data to Eurostat no later than the date of release of the revised data.

The revision practice effectively corresponds to the revision policy of the domain listed under sub‑concept 17.1 (data revision – policy).

Under Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 763/2008, Member States transmit data that are final and validated. As such, any revisions to the data will be corrections rather than planned revisions. There are no routine revisions.

For the population and housing census statistics at country level, and for NUTS2, NUTS3 regions and LAU, data are maintained and stored by the Member States on national computer systems and are extracted by Eurostat and by statistics users in real time via the Census Hub. There is no separate transmission of data to Eurostat. Corrections made to the national data files for the Census Hub are immediately reflected in any future extractions of statistics by users.

Based on the notification of corrections by Member States to Eurostat, statistics disseminated on the Eurostat dissemination database (Eurobase) will be corrected soon after the corrected data have been validated. European aggregates will be updated in line with the corrected national data.

For the georeferenced data at the level of 1km grid squares, Member States will supply any corrected data to Eurostat. After the corrected data have been validated, the statistical outputs produced by Eurostat based on these data will updated.

 Data sources used for the production of 2021 census data.

The data sources and basic census methodologies differ between countries and between different census rounds. 

Broad groups of methods may be defined, although there are detailed differences in terms of how these methods are implemented:

• The "traditional" census, with enumeration based on questionnaires with interviews of respondents by enumerators or self-compilation of forms (possibly online) by respondents;

• The "Register based" census which enumerates the population on the basis of administrative sources of information. Data collection is based on the use of different registers;

• The "mixed" or “combined” census based on a combination of traditional census enumeration techniques and/or sample surveys and/or administrative data sources.

Decennial.

Data presented here were compiled by the National Statistical Institutes as part of a voluntary data collection.

Consistency checks on totals and subtotals, as well as identification and review of apparent outlying results.

Data are compiled by National Statistical Institutes based on a variety of different data sources and methods – as explained under 18.1 above.

Not applicable.

None.