ST/ESA/STAT/SER.M/67/Rev.3 Department of Economic and Social Affairs Statistics Division Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses Revision 3 United Nations New York, 2017 Department of Economic and Social Affairs The Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat is a vital interface between global policies in the economic, social and environmental spheres and national action. The Department works in three main interlinked areas: a( ) it compiles, generates and analyses a wide range of economic, social and environmental data and information on which States Members of the United Nations draw to review common problems and to take stock of policy options; (b) it facilitates the negotiations of Member States in many intergovernmental bodies on joint courses of action to address continuing or emerging global challenges; and (c) it advises interested Governments on the ways and means of translating policy frameworks developed in United Nations conferences and summits into programmes at the country level and, through technical assistance, helps build national capacities. Notes The designations used and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The term “country” as used in this publication also refers, as appropriate, to territories or areas. The designations “developed regions” and “developing regions” are intended for statistical convenience and do not necessarily express a judgement about the stage reached by a particular country or area in the development process. Symbols of United Nations documents are composed of capital letters combined with figures. Mention of such a symbol indicates a reference to a United Nations document. United Nations Publication ST/ESA/STAT/SER.M/67/Rev.3 Sales No. E.15.XVII.10 ISBN 978-92-1-161597-5 eISBN 978-92-1-057394-8 Copyright © 2017 Printed by the United Nations, New York iii Preface Since its earliest years, the United Nations has issued a series of international principles and recommendations on population and housing censuses to assist national statistical offices and census officials, throughout the world, in planning and carrying out improved and cost-effective censuses. The first set of principles and recommendations for population and housing censuses was issued in 1958 at the request of the Statistical Commission of the United Nations in response to a need for developing international standards and as a corner- stone of the first World Population and Housing Census Programme. Although the scope of these recommendations has evolved over time in response to current practices and national needs, they usually provide guidance on the main characteristics of population and housing censuses, general material on census operations and methods and more detailed guidance on the content of censuses. Over the years, the United Nations Statistics Division has played a pivotal role in the coordination of the World Population and Housing Census Programme by issuing and revising international recommendations, providing technical assistance to countries in census operations, and compiling and disseminating census results from countries or areas. The last global census recommendations were published in 2008 under the title Principles and Recom- mendations for Population and Housing Censuses, Revision 2.1 1 United Nations publication, Sales No. E.07.XVII.8. Noting that this publication is a vital resource for countries in planning and con- ducting their population and housing censuses, the Statistical Commission, at its forty-third session,2 welcomed the suggestion to initiate early enough a programme of work for the third 2 Official Records of the Economic revision of the Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses, in prepa- and Social Council, Supplement No. 4, E/2012/24-E/CN.3/2012/34 ration for the 2020 World Population and Housing Census Programme. (2012), chapter I, paragraph 2. The current revision of the principles and recommendations was carried out by an expert group comprising census experts representing all regions of the world, whose contribu- tions were organized around the following working groups and subgroups: 1) Working Group on Population and Housing Topics: (i) Subgroup on Population Topics, (ii) Subgroup on Housing Topics; 2) Working Group on Census Planning and Methodology: (i) Subgroup on Census Operations, (ii) Subgroup on Use of Technology in the Census, (iii) Subgroup on Alternative Censuses; and 3) Working Group on Census Products and Data Utilization. As Secretariat of the World Population and Housing Census Programme, the United Nations Statistics Division coordinated the revision process for the current revision. This was done mainly through convening two meetings of the expert group3 to review the 3 Reports of expert group text of the Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses, Revision 2 meetings, available from http://unstats.un.org/unsd and prepare the third revision of the Principles and Recommendations for Population and Hous- /demographic/meetings/egm ing Censuses taking into account contemporary practices in census taking. At its forty-sixth /default.htm. session in 2015, the United Nations Statistical Commission adopted the draft Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses, Revision 3 and encouraged countries iv Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses, Revision 3 4 Official Records of the Economic to begin its implementation keeping in mind the importance of setting quality standards for and Social Council, Supplement the conduct of the census.4 No. 4, E/2015/24-E/CN.3/2015/40 (2015), chapter I, section C, The salient features of the draft Principles and Recommendations for Population and decision 46/102, available from Housing Censuses, Revision 3 compared to Revision 2 include a restructuring of the guidelines http://unstats.un.org/unsd to make them more intuitive and user-friendly by following as closely as possible the Generic /statcom/doc15/Report-E.pdf. Statistical Business Process Model.5 Consequently, the revised draft is divided into four parts: 5 See www1.unece.org/stat /platform/display/GSBPM Part one: Essential features and census methodology; Part two: Planning, organization and /GSBPM+v5.0. management; Part three: Census operation activities; and Part four: Population and housing census topics. The revised census recommendations also provide more elaboration on alternative methodologies to the traditional census for producing census statistics based on national experiences of the 2010 census round and also introduce major changes to concepts and terminology related to economic characteristics in accordance with the new International 6 Nineteenth International Confer- Labour Organization conceptual framework for work statistics.6 In addition, the current ence of Labour Statisticians, revision includes an entirely new chapter on the use of technology in census operations, Resolution Concerning Statistics owing mainly to the increasing and significant use of advanced technologies, in all phases of of Work, Employment and Labour Underutilization (Geneva, 2013). the census, as countries aspire to increase overall response, quality and timeliness of census data. Other notable changes include sections on archiving of individual records, and on the overall evaluation of the census. Unlike its predecessor, the Principles and Recommendations for Population and Hous- ing Censuses, Revision 3 does not contain tabulation shells. Instead, the accompanying set of tabulations is posted on the United Nations website. In the context of the importance of statistical information for development policy formulation and monitoring, the Principles and Recommendations for Population and Hous- ing Censuses, Revision 2 contained a section on development indicators, which referred to the use of census data for monitoring of the Millennium Development Goal indicators. At the finalization of the Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses, Revision 3, the international community was actively engaged in discussions on the post-2015 development agenda and a new set of global development goals that would succeed the Mil- lennium Development Goals after 2015. While a set of proposed sustainable development 7 The Road to Dignity by 2030: End- goals and their targets was submitted to the General Assembly in September 2014,7 the exact ing Poverty, Transforming All Lives scope and content of the new development agenda is yet to be agreed upon among Member and Protecting the Planet. Synthe- States, pending the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit, 25-27 September sis report of the Secretary-Gen- 2015, New York, United States of America. Consequently, the expert group recommended eral on the post-2015 sustainable development agenda, paragraph that the section on development indicators be appropriately modified once complete informa- 51 (A/69/700, presented at the tion on sustainable development goals, targets and indicators becomes available, to be issued General Assembly, Sixty-ninth as an addendum to the print publication.8 Session). 8 United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Revising the Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing