Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (SURS)

Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia,

Data Publication and Communication Division

User Relations Section

Litostrojska cesta 54, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

The data collection provides information and comparable measurements on the different aspects of the quality of urban life in cities.

Within the project, we do not only collect sub-national statistical data but also promote them.

With different activities we:

• Expand the awareness of the existence of sub-national statistical data
• Educate users about access to sub-national statistical data
• Expand the knowledge of a different way of using sub-national statistical data
• Guide them to use sub-national statistical data in a proper way

Specific classification and coding systems have been developed for the spatial units and for the

variables and indicators of the Urban Audit Project.

Classification system for the spatial units

The city code consists of a 2-digit country code, a 3-digit city code and a final C for city

or F for Functional Urban Area (FUA). The sequential numbering starts with a ‘1’ for the capital.

FUAs are recoded similarly, matching the sequential number of their main city.

Classification system for the UA variables 

A variable is the raw data collected by the national statistical offices of the countries.

The variable data serve as the raw data for the calculation of the indicators.

The variable code consists of a 2-digit domain code, a 4-digit number and a V (for variable).

Variables are labelled as follows:

The indicators and variables cover several aspects of quality of life, e.g. Demography, Nationality, Household structure, Housing, Health, Crime, Labour Market, Economic Activity, Education and training provision, Educational qualification, Waste management, Travel patterns, Culture and Recreation.

For the complete list of variables, see the City Statistics Manual.

For most variables, the definitions from the City Statistics Manual and existing international standards have been used.

Information on the deviating definitions used in the collection for the reference years 2021 and 2022 is available in Annex (see files UA _review of methodology_2021_SI and UA _review of methodology_2022_SI).

In the Urban Audit, data are collected for cities and FUAs.

Statistical units are mostly persons. A few variables are collected on households, dwellings, cities, etc.

For the detailed definitions of units, see the City Statistics Manual.

For most variables, the target statistical population is the usual residents of a geographical area (city). Urban Audit covers two Slovenian cities (Ljubljana and Maribor). For the detailed description of variables, see the Methodological Manual on territorial typologies.

As mentioned, in the case of Slovenia data for two cities are collected.

The first one is the capital city Ljubljana, while the second one is the second biggest city Maribor.

For Ljubljana data are collected for the following spatial units:

• Osrednjeslovenska statistical region, code SI001F
• Municipality of Ljubljana, code SI001C

For Maribor data are collected for the following spatial units:

• Podravska statistical region, code SI002F
• Municipality of Maribor, code SI002C

The data collection is organized in data collection rounds. The current data collection covers the reference years 2021 and 2022.

Not applicable.

The unit of measure varies from indicator to indicator and from variable to variable. In most cases, the unit of measure is included in the label.

For the current data collection, the reference period is the reference years 2021 and 2022.

Previous reference periods:

• In 2003/2004 data were mainly collected for the reference year 2001
• In 2006/2007 data were mainly collected for the reference year 2004
• In 2009/2011 data were mainly collected for the reference year 2008
• In 2012/2013 data were mainly collected for the reference year 2011
• In 2014/2015 data were collected for the reference years 2013 and 2014
• In 2016/2017 data were collected for the reference years 2015 and 2016
• In 2018/2019 data were collected for the reference years 2017 and 2018
• In 2021/2022 data were collected for the reference years 2019 and 2020

Some variables were collected on annual bases for the reference years 2009, 2010 and 2012.

1996 and 1991 were the reference years for the "historical" data.

All data supply of urban statistics is based on a voluntary agreement, as there is no Community legislation yet on this topic.

Not applicable.

The National Statistics Act (hereinafter the ZDSta) stipulates within fundamental principles of national statistics in Article 2 that “national statistics shall be implemented on the principles of … confidentiality …”. The principle is concretised in further provisions of the ZDSta, while for explanation one can turn to some international documents. The United Nations Resolution on Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics (adopted by the UN Statistical Commission in 1994 and confirmed by the UN General Assembly on 29 January 2014) determines in Principle 6 that “individual data collected by statistical agencies for statistical compilation, whether they refer to natural or legal persons, are to be strictly confidential and used exclusively for statistical purposes”. The explanation of the resolution is that reliable official statistics is based on the trust of the public and its good will to provide timely and accurate data that are requested. Such cooperation is only possible if statistical confidentiality is respected. In a similar way this principle is concretised in the European Statitstics Code of Practice (adopted by the European Statistical System Committee on 28 September 2011), which determines that “the privacy of data providers (households, enterprises, administrations and other respondents), the confidentiality of the information they provide and its use only for statistical purposes must be absolutely guaranteed“. And last but not least, item (e) of Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No. 223/2009 on European Statistics determines statistical confidentiality as “the protection of confidential data related to single statistical units which are obtained directly for statistical purposes or indirectly from administrative or other sources and implying the prohibition of use for non-statistical purposes of the data obtained and of their unlawful disclosure”.

Statistical confidentiality as determined above is thus provided with the help of various legal, organisational and technological procedures that can be summarised in the following points:

• Security of data and information

The ZDSta stipulates that security of data collected through the programme of statistical surveys includes technical and organisational measures and other appropriate logical and technical procedures which provide security of rooms and computer equipment, security of data transmission and transfer, prevention of access of unauthorised persons to the equipment for data processing, which would enable subsequent finding of how and when the data were processed, by whom and for what purpose. Procedures and measures under the previous paragraph are established by the Head of Office in accordance with law.

The Office thus adopted a comprehensive information security policy, which covers the so-called “umbrella” security policy and sectoral regulations and is based on the recommendations of the information security standard ISO 27001:2005. On the basis of these recommendations it regulates the protection and security of data in the following way: it determines in detail the organisational and technical measures and procedures of providing security with the aim to prevent unauthorised access, processing, use, destruction, modification and transmission of data, determines procedures for assigning and withdrawing the rights of users and changing the rights of users, determines people authorised and responsible for managing user rights with the aim to define procedures for assigning, changing and withdrawing user access to the information system and thus data stored in it, and determine some controls related to establishing the identity of the user and monitoring the user’s activity in the information system.

All employees are obliged to protect the content of personal and individual data and data on reporting units which they learn during their work as official secrecy. All employees sign a statement of data protection and thus confirm that they are informed about the issue. The obligation to protect the official secrecy continues after the termination of employment.

• Use of data exclusively for statistical purposes

In line with the ZDSta the statistical purpose is providing and disseminating aggregate data on mass phenomena. The ZDSta also stipulates that the data can be used exclusively for statistical purposes, i.e. for disseminating aggregate data, unless otherwise provided by law. On the basis of an application written by a user, individual data can be transmitted, but only in the form and way which does not enable the identification of the unit to which the data refer. The data that enable the identification of the unit to which they refer can only be transmitted to those units to which the data refer or if these units sent the data. 

SURS can publish the data only in aggregate form, so that it is not possible to identify the unit to which the data refer. The data must be available in the same way (at the same time and under the same conditions) to all users. Only exceptionally can SURS publish individual data: upon written consent of the reporting unit to which the data refer that they agree with the publication of data in such a way or if the data are collected from public (generally accessible) data collections (records, registers, databases, etc.).

• Statistical protection of the data transmitted to users

The relationship between statistical confidentiality, transmission of data to users and the right to privacy and/or business secrecy is a very complex issue; at the same time it is also sensitive and demands constantly new scientific approaches and argumentation. 

Statistical data protection is a very complex concept and refers to all three steps in implementing the statistical function: data collection, processing and dissemination. But because the final step, i.e. data dissemination, is the most important, we speak of statistical protection of disseminated data (i.e. statistical disclosure control). 

One of the essential tasks of the statistical function is to seek balance between statistical confidentiality and dissemination of data to users. Without any doubt, the decisions adopted by users of statistical data are better if better, i.e. more detailed, statistical data are disseminated to them. However, dissemination of detailed statistical data increases the risk of disclosing the reporting unit. Therefore, the main objective of statistical protection is the so-called min-max principle: dissemination of maximally detailed data with minimum threats to confidentiality, i.e. minimum potential of disclosing the reporting unit. Assessment of this trade-off is inherent to the statistical function as is the development of methods for preventing the disclosure of reporting units (i.e. statistical disclosure control techniques). 

To prevent disclosure of reporting units, statistical institutions have developed various methods, which differ in view of the form of disseminating statistical data (microdata, tables and sequential series). For each form of data dissemination SURS uses and upgrades many software tools for data protection.

• Secure management of data for research purposes

Official statistics does not provide statistical data only to public administration organisations and bodies but also to other users, the economy and the public. This statement is particularly true for countries with developed democracy in which official statistics is used as a kind of mirror of the society. In this respect an important role is played by the scientific-research community (researchers), which is very important in stimulating political debate and evaluating the efficiency of government measures. And a condition for this is access to high-quality statistical data. On the other hand, statistical institutions in individual countries are also aware of the value added brought by work done by researchers with their data.

In 2007 the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) issued the principles and recommendations of good practice regarding the management of statistical confidentiality and researchers' access to microdata. The UNECE derived from Principle 6 of the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics in the Region of the Economic Commission for Europe, which stipulates that individual data collected by statistical agencies for statistical compilation, whether they refer to natural or legal persons, are to be strictly confidential and used exclusively for statistical purposes. Any provision of researchers’ access to microdata must be inline with this principle. Based on the »umbrella principle«, the UNECE developed principles that must be taken into account in transmitting microdata to researchers: »1. It is appropriate for microdata collected for official statistical purposes to be used for statistical analysis to support research as long as confidentiality is protected. 2. Microdata should only be made available for statistical purposes. 3. Provision of microdata should be consistent with legal and other necessary arrangements that ensure that confidentiality of the released microdata is protected. 4. The procedures for researcher access to microdata, as well as the users and uses of microdata, should be transparent and publicly available.«.

Considering the relevant legal basis and UNECE recommendations, the Office set up the following system of transmitting microdata to researchers:

• As an advisory body of SURS’s Director-General the Committee for Researchers (ORA) was established, which deals requests to obtain microdata. The right to obtain access to microdata is granted only to registered research institutions and registered researchers.
• The purpose for which it is possible to obtain microdata is analytical and scientific-research.
• The right to obtain microdata is not absolute but depends on the ability of researchers to guarantee the protection of these data.
• The right to obtain microdata is based on the contract signed by SURS and the researcher (or research institution) and the signed declaration on data protection.

• Educating and informing the employees about statistical confidentiality

Continuous education of employees and raising their awareness of the importance of providing unconditional statistical data confidentiality is very important for the operation of the Office. The weakest link in the system is always the human factor, irrespective of the legal basis and technological factors. Therefore, constant education and making employees aware of the importance of statistical confidentiality, its aspects, legal bases, procedures, etc., is of key importance. Employees might ask themselves why statistical confidentiality, why is it necessary to protect the data, why privacy is important, etc. It is therefore important that before employees start to work they are informed about the elements of statistical confidentiality, pointing out the element of information privacy and the importance of personal data protection. 

We do not have a special data set for the purpose of the Urban Audit project. But the majority of data collected in the Urban Audit Project are available in the SiStat Database under various statistical fields. SiStat Database: https://pxweb.stat.si/SiStat/en

All data from the Urban Audit project are available in the Eurostat database. Data are released as soon as they are received and validated.

Our release calendar: http://www.stat.si/statweb/en/ReleaseCal

SiStat database: https://pxweb.stat.si/SiStat/en

Eurostat: In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice, Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users. 

The Eurostat database is updated continually, depending on the availability of new and revised data.

Not available.

Not available.

We do not have a special data set for the purpose of the Urban Audit project. But the majority of data collected in the Urban Audit Project are available in the SiStat Database under various statistical fields. SiStat Database: https://pxweb.stat.si/SiStat/en

All data from the Urban Audit project are available in the Eurostat database/General and regional statistics/Urban audit: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/cities/statistics-illustrated

Not available.

Not available.

For most variables, the definitions from the City Statistics Manual and existing international standards have been used.

Information on the deviating definitions used in the reference years 2021 and 2022 is available in Annex (see files UA _review of methodology_2021_SI and UA _review of methodology_2022_SI).

For most variables, the definitions from the City Statistics Manual and existing international standards have been used.

Information on the deviating definitions used in the collection for the reference years 2021 and 2022 is available in Annex (see files UA _review of methodology_2021_SI and UA _review of methodology_2022_SI).

For most variables, the definitions from the City Statistics Manual and existing international standards have been used.

Information on the deviating definitions used in the collection for the reference years 2021 and 2022 is available in Annex (see files UA _review of methodology_2021_SI and UA _review of methodology_2022_SI).

The quality of data is fully assessed using internal validation procedures and Eurostat’s validation methods.

The general objective of the project is to collect quantitative information on the quality of life in European cities.

We are aware of the needs at the European level. We will collect as many data on cities as possible depending on available human resources.

Not available.

Data availability differs from domain to domain. Overview of data availability for the reference years 2021 and 2022 is provided in Annex (see files UA _review of methodology_2021_SI and UA _review of methodology_2022_SI).

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

As a general rule, timeliness is about 24 months.

As a general rule, timeliness is about 24 months.

Spatial units were not changed from the beginning of the Urban Audit project to the reference year 2015. Since 1 January 2015, the Osrednjeslovenska statistical region has slightly changed. In the case of the Urban Audit project, the Osrednjeslovenska statistical region is functional urban area for the city of Ljubljana. This change is the consequence of changes of the NUTS regulation. Because of the change, the data for this spatial unit are not directly comparable with the data collected in the previous phases. Therefore, from the reference year 2015 to the reference year 2018, we have used a new code (SI001L2 instead of SI001L1). From the reference year 2019 on, we are using new codes established by Eurostat.

Most of the data are comparable over time. Where the comparability is not assured, flags and suitable notes are added in the data file.

Data collected at the sub-national level are coherent with the data collected at the national level.

Internal coherence (e.g. between spatial levels, between indicators such as total, male, female population) is ensured through the application of multivariable and univariate validation controls.

The main burden is on the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Data for the reference years 2021 and 2022 were generally available within the Statistical Office of

the Republic of Slovenia. For some variables, data were available in the SiStat Database for all spatial

units or in some cases just at the regional level. For other variables or at the municipal level (where

needed), we need to prepare data especially for the Urban Audit Project.

Anyway, a small amount of data was also collected from the sources outside the Statistical Office.

Data were contributed by:

• Ministry of the Interior, Police (data on crime)
• Municipality of Ljubljana (bicycle network)
• Ljubljanski potniški promet – public company for urban transport (monthly ticket)
• Public institution Sport Ljubljana (public swimming pools in municipality Ljubljana)
• Municipality of Maribor (bicycle network, public swimming pools)
• Marprom – public company for urban transport (monthly ticket in municipality Maribor)
• Slovenian Film Centre (number of cinema seats, cinema attendance)
• National and University Library (data on public libraries)
• Slovenian Traffic Safety Agency (accidents)

The Urban Audit is a multiannual data collection. Some indicators are only available for census years (in Annex see file UA _review of methodology_2021_SI and UA _review of methodology_2022_SI). The reference period of the current data collection is 2021–2022. 

Data were collected by the National Urban Audit Coordinator (NUAC). The NUAC collected data from available sources in the national statistical office as well as from the sources outside the statistical office.

We cooperated in the data validation process. We checked the potentially erroneous data and corrected them if necessary.

All the data that were sent via eDAMIS were checked with the pre-validation tool.

The Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia collected as many data as possible that are requested in the frame of the Project. All available data were transmitted to Eurostat in the agreed format. No special estimations were made.

Data are usually collected by the National Urban Audit Coordinator, but the help of other statistical sections is also necessary.

Not applicable.

None.