The population census as we know it, which is carried out every 10 years, is going down in history. With the new regulation of the European Union on European statistics on population and housing, the traditional population census will be succeeded by administrative registers that will annually collect and daily update a range of data such as education and voting rights to housing and migration censuses. This will increase the coherence, consistency and comparability of statistical data on the population, including demographic and migration data, as well as data on families, households and housing conditions.
Dubravka Rogić-Hadžalić, Head of Demographic and Social Statistics at the State Statistical Office (DZS), announced to Hina that the CZS will send these data to Eurostat on an annual basis after 2025.
In 2031, we will probably conduct a combined census
At the level of the European Union, there is currently an initiative to move from traditional field censuses to combined censuses or to censuses based on register data, which should reduce the burden on respondents and the costs of statistical production. However, administrative registers are still being established in Croatia, so time will be crucial for the application of new methods of data collection, so it can be assumed that in 2031 we will have to carry out a census in the field with a shortened questionnaire. Whether Croatia will completely switch to the register list will depend on the quality of the data in the administrative registers, as they must meet the European Statistics Code of Practice.
It is also important to note that for the establishment of the population register, a special law should be passed and several state bodies should be involved, such as the State Geodetic Administration, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Education, Tax Administration, Ministry of Justice and Administration, HZMO, HZZO…
Scandinavian countries have been using such registers since the seventies of the last century
Scandinavian countries established registries in the seventies of the last century, and Central European countries 20-30 years ago. Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia do not yet have them, but they started the process before Croatia, which has been delaying the registers for 20 years due to a lack of political will.
There are three most important administrative registers that have yet to be established, namely the register of buildings and apartments, households and population. The administrative population register should contain data on residents, from names of family members to residence, marital status, education and voting rights, Poslovni.hr writes.
source: podravski