Introduction
Key available data are presented on population and housing based on the decennial census rounds 1981-2011.
Separate tables cover:
- Population by sex and major age group
- Population by educational attainment
- Population by activity status
- Population by citizenship
- Households by household size
- Occupied conventional dwellings by number of rooms
Data availability varies between census rounds.
The countries covered by the data vary between different census rounds.
There are also differences in definitions and disaggregations between countries and between census rounds.
28 May 2013
Population by sex and major age group 1981-2011
Population may be defined in a census in several different ways.
- Usually resident population is a concept under which individuals are recorded to a geographical area on the basis of the place of residence. People who habitually live in a country are included in the population figures, even if they are temporarily abroad at the time of the census. On the other hand, people from abroad who are temporarily in the country are not included. The term 'de jure' population is sometimes used to describe this concept.
- Population present is a concept under which individuals are recorded to the geographical area where they were present at a specified time regardless of whether this is the place that they usually live. This concept includes, for instance, all non-residents who are on holiday in the country at the time of the census, and excludes all residents who are on holiday abroad on the census date. The term 'de facto' population is sometimes used to describe this concept.
(Source: Handbook of Vital Statistics Systems and Methods, Volume 1: Legal, Organisational and Technical Aspects, United Nations Studies in Methods, Glossary, Series F, No. 35, United Nations, New York 1991; Demographics Statistics: definitions and methods of collection in 31 European countries, Eurostat, 2003)
Age can be expressed in years or in years and months and, in the case of very small children, it may be given in months and days.
The main criteria adopted by most countries in the 1981, 1991, 2001 and 2011 census exercises was "age at last birthday", with age recorded as the number of completed years lived at census date.
Many census outputs show age aggregated to age groups:
- High level distribution: by five-year age groups;
- Low level distribution: by broad age groups such as 0-14 years, 15-64 years, 65 years and over.
Concerning France, 2880 Overseas Departments have their 1982 age compilation left in blanck and integrated in "unknown".
Population by educational attainment 1991-2011
Generally, "educational attainment" refers to the highest level successfully completed in the educational system of the country where the education was received. According to the UNECE recommendations, information on educational attainment should be collected for all persons above the maximum age for starting compulsory schooling.
Three broad levels of education may be defined:
- Primary education;
- Secondary education, itself often divided into different cycles or tracks;
- Tertiary education (also called "post-secondary education" or "higher education").
(Source: Multilingual Demographic Dictionary, 1990; Eurostat documentation on 1981, 1991, 2001 and 2011 census exercises; UN Handbook on Population and Housing Census Editing, 2010)
The definitions of the various levels of education are given in the International Standard Classification on Education (ISCED). They consist of:
- No education at all;
- Pre-primary education (ISCED 0);
- Primary education (ISCED 1);
- Lower secondary education (ISCED 2);
- Upper secondary education (ISCED 3), itself often divided into: ISCED 3a (programmes designed to provide direct access to ISCED 5a); ISCED 3b (programmes designed to provide direct access to ISCED 5b);ISCED 3c (programmes not designed to provide direct access to ISCED 5 programmes);
- Post-secondary non-tertiary education (ISCED 4);
- First stage of tertiary education (ISCED 5), itself often divided into: ISCED 5a (university degrees); ISCED 5b (vocational programmes);
- Second stage of tertiary education (ISCED 6), which includes doctorates only.
On this database, ED0_2 comprises ISCED 0, ISCED 1 and ISCED 2; ED3_4 comprises ISCED 3 and ISCED 4; ED5_6 comprises ISCED 5 and ISCED 6 (source: Eurostat dataset).
Concerning FR, censuses 1990-1999 we based on sampling (a quarter in the metropole and total in the Overseas Departments).
Population by sex and occupation
Information on economic activity is collected for each person at or above a minimum age, set in accordance with the conditions in each country. For the tables presented here, this minimum age is set at 15.
A distinction can be made between the economically active population and the economically inactive population.
Occupation is coded in accordance with the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO). The latest revision available at this time is the one that was developed by the 14th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ILCS) in 1987 and adopted by the Governing Body of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in 1988 (although an update to ISCO was in progress while the last set of census international recommendations was being approved).
"Employed" persons comprise all persons above the minimum age specified for the measurement of the economically active population who during the reference period of (preferably) one week:
- Performed some work for pay or profit, in cash or in kind, or
- 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 such as a farm, a business enterprise or a service undertaking.
ISCO-88, Definition and Structure, Eurostat, February 1993, provides a list of occupational groups identified for EU-wide occupational statistics:
- Legislators, senior official and managers (ISCO1);
- Professionals (ISCO2);
- Technicians and associate professionals (ISCO3);
- Clerks (ISCO4);
- Service workers and shop and market sales workers (ISCO5);
- Skilled agricultural and fishery workers (ISCO6);
- Craft and related trades workers (ISCO7);
- Plant and machine operators and assemblers (ISCO8);
- Elementary occupations (ISCO9);
- Armed forces (ISCO0).
Concerning FR, using ISCO08 nomenclature was problemativ to rebuilt 1990/1999 census data; therefore it was not possible to transmit any table.
Population by sex and current activity status
Information on economic activity is collected for each person at or above the minimum age, set in accordance with the conditions in each country.
1991 Census
Unemployed persons and unpaid family workers have not been included in the economically active population (Source: Eurostat documentation on the census exercise 1991).
In the census exercise 1991, the requested information was labelled: "Active and inactive population by sex (ISCED 1997)" (Source: Eurostat database).
2001 Census
In the census exercise 2001, the requested information was labelled: "Population by sex, age and current activity status"(source: Eurostat database).
Please note that the economically active population have been measured in different ways:
(a) The "currently active" population (or, equivalently, the "labour force"), measured in relation to a short reference period such as one week or one day.
To this category belong:
- Employed persons
- Unemployed persons (those, above a specified age, who during the reference period were without work, but currently available for work and seeking work, having taken specific steps in a specified recent period to seek paid employment or self-employment);
(b) The "usually active" population measured in relation to a long reference period such as a year. So, the concept of "main activity status" of each person above a specified minimum age is introduced and it could be considered as a summary measure of the different statuses of each person during the 52 weeks or the 365 days of the specified 12-month period.
(Source: Eurostat documentation on the census exercise 2001; UNECE, Recommendations for the 2000 censuses of population and housing in the ECE region, 1998)
As regard FR: military was integrated as "actives" and "occupied" although according to FR military are "actives" but neither "occupied" nor "joblesses"
Population by sex and citizenship
Citizenship depends on each country's definitions. In certain countries, persons born in the country are automatically citizens by birth (jure soli citizenship). In other countries, persons born (even abroad) from parents with the citizenship of a country, are automatically citizens by birth of the same country of their parents (jure sanguinis citizenship).
2011 Census (Source: Eurostat legislation on the 2011 Population and Housing Censuses; UNECE, Conference of European Statisticians Recommendations for the 2010 Censuses of Population and Housing)
- 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. Information on citizenship should be collected for all persons and coded in the most feasible detailed manner, based on the three-digit alphabetical codes presented in the classification issued by the UN Statistical Division (Standard Country or Area Codes for Statistical Use, ST/ESA/STAT/SER.M/49/Rev.4/).
2001 Census (Source: Eurostat documentation on the census exercise 2001; UNECE, Recommendations for the 2000 censuses of population and housing in the ECE region, 1998)
- 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. Information on citizenship should be collected for all persons and coded in as detailed a manner as is feasible, based on the three-digit alphabetical codes presented in International Standard, ISO 3166-1:1997: Codes for the Representation of Names of Countries, (5th ed., Berlin 1997), published by the International Organization for Standardization.
1991 Census (Source: Eurostat documentation on the census exercise, 1991)
- Citizenship is defined as the legal nationality of each person, and a citizen is a person who is a legal national of the country of the census by birth or naturalization, whether by declaration, option, marriage or other means.
A person with two or more citizenship should be allocated to only one country of citizenship, to be determined in the following order of precedence:
- reporting country; or
- if the person does not have the citizenship of the reporting country: other EU Member State; or
- if the person does not have the citizenship of another EU Member State: other country outside the European Union.
For FR, "stateless" could not be filled and remainded empty.
Households by size
The household is a socio-economic unit. It consists of individuals who live together. The aim is to collect information about the size and composition of the private household to which the respondents belong, on the relationship between household members and the economic activity status of household members of working age. In addition, the household arrangements of an individual could be considered as an indirect measure of the social situation of the individual itself.
Statistical definitions of the household vary. Countries are recommended to use the place of usual residence as the basis of household membership (UNECE, Recommendations for the 2000 censuses of population and housing in the ECE region, 1998). The existence of shared expenses in the household (including benefiting from expenses as well as contributing to expenses) is also used to determine who is regarded as household members (Eurostat, Task Force on Core Social Variables, 2007).
In the data presented here, these units are cross-tabulated with the following topics:
1. Households by size
2. Occupied conventional dwellings by number of rooms
Private households are classified by the total number of household members. So, the size of a household is a count of those people who are usually resident in the household, irrespective of whether or not they are present at the time of the census. Furthermore, those who are present at the time of census but who are members of another household should be excluded.
Living quarters are defined as structurally separate and independent premises which are either designed for permanent human habitation at a fixed location and not used for other purposes at the time of the census or actually used as the principal residence of at least one person at the time of the census (whether or not so designed, whether fixed or mobile, and whether permanent or temporary).
A dwelling is a statistical abstraction denoting housing accommodation appropriate for occupation by one household.
It is useful to distinguish as far as possible housing units used as a primary residence from those that are used as a secondary residence. This is particularly important if the secondary residence has markedly different characteristics from the primary residence, as is the case, for example, when persons in agricultural households move during certain seasons of the year from their permanent living quarters in a village to rudimentary structures located on agricultural holdings (United Nations, 2008, para. 2.466). The recommended classification of occupancy status for conventional dwellings is as follows:
a) Occupied dwellings are dwellings which are the principal usual residence of at least one person at the time of census;
b) Vacant dwellings are dwellings which have no usual residents at the time of the census but are available to become the principal usual residence of at least one person. Vacant dwellings could be either:
- Seasonally vacant
- Holiday homes
- Seasonal workers' quarters
- Other
- Non-seasonally vacant
- Secondary residences
- For rent
- For sale
- For demolition
- Other
A further distinction is made between:
- Conventional dwelling which is a room or a suite of rooms and its accessories in a permanent building or structurally separated part thereof which by the way it has been built, rebuilt or converted; it is designed for habitation by one private household all the year round and is not at the time of the census used wholly for non-residential purposes;
- Non-conventional dwelling all the other housing kinds that do not appear above but homelessness.
Occupied conventional dwellings by number of rooms
A room is defined as a space in a housing unit, or in living quarters other than housing units, enclosed by walls reaching from the floor to the ceiling or roof covering, or at least to a height of 2 metres above the ground, 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. Thus, normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, habitable cellars and attics, servants' rooms, kitchens and other separate spaces used or intended for habitation all count as rooms. Passageways, verandas, lobbies, bathrooms, and toilet rooms should not be counted as rooms, even if they meet the criteria (United Nations, 2008).
(Source: Multilingual Demographic Dictionary, 1990; Eurostat documentation on 1991, 2001 and 2011 census exercises; UNECE, Recommendations for the 2000 censuses of population and housing in the ECE region, 1998; UN Handbook on Population and Housing Census Editing, 2010)
Several statistical units are taken into account in the different census rounds.
In the data presented here, only "Persons" (individuals), "Private households" and "Conventional dwellings" are considered.
For the definitions of household and dwelling, please see section 3.4 above.
"Place of usual residence" is the geographic place where the enumerated person usually resides. ie. 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.
In certain cases, residence may be defined in different ways, in particular according to the place of legal or registered residence.
Only those persons:
- who have lived in their place of usual residence for a continuous period of at least twelve months before Census Day; or
- who have arrived in their place of usual residence during the twelve months before Census Day with the intention of staying for at least one year
should be considered as usual residents of the relevant geographic or administrative subdivision.
Census 2011
European Union 27 Member States, European Free Trade Association Member States (4) and Candidate countries according to data availability.
Census 2001
European Union 15 Member States, European Free Trade Association Member States (4) and Candidate countries according to data availability.
Census 1991
European Union 12 Member States, European Free Trade Association Member States (4) and Candidate countries according to data availability.
The data relate to the specific census dates set in each country in the census rounds 1981-2011.
The exact census dates differ between countries.
Not available
Data are expressed in absolute numbers.
Not applicable
Data sources used for the production of census data
The data sources and basic census methodologies differ between countries and between different census rounds. Three main approaches may be defined, although there are detailed differences in terms of how these approaches are implemented:
- The "traditional" census, with enumeration based on questionnaires with interviews of respondents by enumerators or self-compilation of forms 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 registers (population registers, registers of buildings and dwellings, geographical co-ordinates, school registers, social security, tax, business and company registers). To ensure provision of all of the data required by the census operation, it is often necessary for data from different administrative sources to be linked - for example, combining data on individuals from a population register with data on the relevant dwelling taken from as buildings register;
- The "mixed" census based on a combination of traditional; census enumeration techniques and/or sample surveys and/or administrative data sources.
(See Regulation (EC) 763/2008, Article 4)
Not applicable for this collection.
Not applicable
All the figures are reported at national level.
National differences in the census methodologies, definitions and concepts used may impact on the comparability of data from different countries. However, detailed information about the extent of this is not generally available.
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.
