Improving the design of the Italian permanent population and housing census

What is it about?

The backbone of the permanent population and housing census (PPHC) is the statistical Population Register (RBI), while two sample surveys (Areal survey and List survey) are conducted annually to evaluate and correct the coverage errors of RBI and collect the data needed to produce Census outputs. In 2020, following the cancellation of the field surveys due to the pandemic, a process integrating available data from the past waves and administrative ‘signs of life’ was set up in order to estimate population counts at municipal level for age, sex and citizenship. This obliged push towards a larger use of administrative data has called for a rethinking of the statistical framework, with survey data used for the quality measurement of a fully register-based population count estimation.

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Photo by Scott Evans on Unsplash

Photo by Scott Evans on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Integrating data from different sources for producing census data is becoming increasingly common. With regard to population count, information from all available sources (administrative data, data from previous censuses, data from sample surveys and from longitudinal databases) is integrated at the record level and decision rules (or ‘activity’ rules) are often applied to ensure that only individuals who meet some pre-defined usual residence criteria are included in the final estimates. This process, also known as the ‘Signs of Life’ (SoL) method, is a widely used tool to assess and possibly reduce over coverage in statistical registers (i.e. inclusion of records that are not part of the usually resident population) and It is also explicitly mentioned in the Draft Framework Regulation on European Statistics on Population (ESOP) as a possible statistical method to implement an harmonised usual residence population across EU.

Perspectives