Towards 2021 Population Census in the Republic of Serbia Snežana Lakčević Suzana Stanojković Technical Coordination Group / Budapest, 15-16 June 2017

2021 Census preparatory activities have started Evaluated potential for moving away from traditional census Drivers for change: Costs Data demands Changes in international practices SORS strategy in terms of greater use of administrative data for production of official statistics

What have we done? Project “Statistical Population Register“ IPA 2012 Multi-beneficiary January 2014 - November 2015 Tested possibilities of establishing SPR and conducting census based on administrative sources Created overview of administrative sources status Evaluated usability of administrative data for census purposes

Single Personal Identification Number Existing administrative sources Ministry of Interior (records of permanent and temporary residents, citizenship, asylum seekers…..) National Employment Service Pension and Disablement Insurance Fund National Health Insurance Fund Central Register of Social Contribution Payers Tax Administration Register of births, deaths and marriages Voters Register Single Personal Identification Number Statistical Business Register, Statistical Register of Employment (SORS) Register of Spatial Units (SORS and RGA) Address Register (RGA) Cadastre of Real Estates (RGA)

Administrative sources - Main findings Lack of key administrative sources /Population register, Register of buildings and dwellings, Register of education/ Address register is not complete and updated Limitations in coverage and quality Administrative sources cannot provide all core variables Data on ethnicity and religious affiliation are necessary for implementing national laws and other legal acts concerning realization of ethnic minorities rights /Law on official use of language and scripts, Law on protection of rights and freedom of ethnic minorities, Law on churches and religious communities, etc./ Classifications and definitions are not mutually compliant

Use of administrative data in 2021 Census There are no adequate conditions for implementing register based census In the next census round administrative data will be used in different phases of census implementation EAs definition Coverage control Imputation of missing values 2021 Census EAs Coverage Imputation

New approach to traditional 2021 Population Census SORS is going to modernize traditional census by implementing new data collection techniques: Self-enumeration via Internet (CAWI) Computer assisted interviews (CAPI) First paperless census Expected benefits: Reduced number of participants Better quality of training Improved dissemination timeliness and data quality Reduced burden of respondents / meeting new habits of users Improvement !

New approach to traditional 2021 Population Census Challenges Issues of financing 2021 Census Insufficient human resources Improvement of Address Register Confidentiality assurance / statistical disclosure control (internal WG) RESOURCES Address Register Confidentiality

Current situation – Overview Timetable of the Pilot project ACTIVITY 2017 2018 2019 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 Start of the Project   Study visit* Preparing methodological and organisational instruments Cooperation with relevant institutions and regular consultations Defining content of the Pilot census Testing - focus groups etc. Selection of the sample for the Pilot and PES Public procurements Design and development of information system, programming and tasting of applications Field updating of spatial data; preparation of the graphical documentation Selection of direct participants and training at all levels Preparation of methodological and organizational instruments for PES Enumeration – CAWI Enumeration – CAPI Field work – PES Data processing Analysing all phases of the project implementation Preparing Quality report Preparing Interim project report Preparing Final project report End of the project Introducing technological and organizational innovations requires careful planning and testing 2019 Pilot Census preparation Project under IPA 2015 260 enumeration areas (20 000 households / 50 000 persons) Post Enumeration Survey (15 EAs) Considering all the coming results final decision on data collection technique will be made

Current situation – Overview Establishment of management structure for 2021 Census Appointed Project team for strategic decisions Operative working groups are currently being established (WG for legislation issues, IT strategy....) Methodological and organizational preparatory activities Harmonization of methodology with international standards Defining contents of questionnaires Creating detailed plan of activities Cooperation with Republic Geodetic Authority concerning use of GIS technology

Current situation – Overview Simultaneously SORS experts are involved in the activities at the state level, which is of great importance for conducting the next census Coordination body and WG for upgrading Address Register significant improvement is expected in the forthcoming period linkage of census and geo-referenced data will be enabled, i.e. production of a set of census data on a 1 km2 grid monitoring coverage Coordination body and WG appointed for establishing and developing Central Population Register WG for preparing harmonized classification of occupations (ISCO) Mentioned activities will contribute to creating conditions for producing census statistics based on administrative data beyond 2021

Snežana Lakčević Suzana Stanojković Acting Assistant Director for Social Statistics snezana.lakcevic@stat.gov.rs Suzana Stanojković Head of Census Methodology Group suzana.stanojkovic@stat.gov.rs