Collection and dissemination of data geo-referenced to a 1km² grid Item 3.2 of the draft agenda DSS Meeting 1 and 2 March 2018

Content Need for geo-referenced census data A new legal base Current proposals for 1km² grid data content Statistical disclosure control for census grid data Compliance with INSPIRE Directive Conclusions

Need for geo-referenced census data Increasing importance of geospatial data combined with social and economic statistics Noted by 2015 report of the UN Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management "2020 round of censuses … an important opportunity for the integration of statistical and geospatial data" European Statistical Advisory Committee Geographically detailed statistics that relate to issues and local areas that people recognise and can understand Information about 'my town', 'my district' Overcoming 'post-truth' in public debate

EU Structural & Investment Funds Small area data for regional and social cohesion policies EU payments planned & implemented for 2014-2020 €200 billion – European Regional Development Fund €60 billion – Cohesion Fund €100 billion – European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development Annual amount of approximately €51 billion (~35% EU budget) DG REGIO responsible for the funds - implements and evaluates related policies - need for reliable data for stable small areas

Grid data allow analyses not previously possible with small pre-defined statistical areas LAU2 units and other small area units are not stable – many changes over time Examples of other needs for grid data Emergency management plans Assessing access to public and other services How many people live in a flood zone? How many people are within 30 minutes of a hospital?

Budapest Memorandum Action point 8 – agreed by Directors General of NSIs To develop a basic set of census-related geo-referenced data covering a limited range of demographic and socio-economic characteristics, as a source of geographically detailed regional data on migrants.

A new legal base Regulation (EC) 763/2008 does not foresee geo-grid statistics Direct Temporary Statistical Action (TSA) possible under the Regulation on European Statistics Three conditions no more than three reference years data available to the NSIs or can be obtained directly financial contributions to cover incremental costs Based on past consultations with Member States, Eurostat believes these conditions will be met

Drafting the TSA regulation Discussion of initial draft regulation by the Task Force on future EU censuses in December 2016 Revised draft agreed by the Task Force in April 2017 At that stage, without completed Article 6 – which required input from the SGA project on disclosure control Updated version – with Article 6 Written consultation with the Task Force Agreed by the Census Working Group in November 2017, and recommended for submission to and approval by the DSS

Programme of 1km² grid data For each 1 km grid square, 13 numbers: total population sex (males, females) age (under 15, 15-64, 65 and over) employed persons (only if available nationally) place of birth (in the reporting country, in another EU country, outside EU) usual residence 12 months before (unchanged, within reporting country, outside of the reporting country) No cross-tabulations of different data items

Disclosure control 1km2 grid data presents new disclosure control challenges very small, non-nested (with NUTS/LAU) areas Proposed approach is supported in the outputs and conclusions of the SGA 'Harmonised protection of census data in the ESS’ project: SGA recommended (but optional) disclosure control methods suitable for protecting the main EU census programme outputs and the 1km² grid data

Compliance with the INSPIRE Directive The INSPIRE Directive aims to create a spatial data infrastructure for the EU common technical standards to enable the sharing of environmental spatial information between administrations and to facilitate public access assist in policy making and evaluation across national boundaries by the use of compatible standards Member States must ensure that any spatial data that they produce comply with the common INSPIRE standards relating to data, metadata and output production Article 12 of the draft regulation: in transmitting the grid data and metadata, and in their dissemination via the Census Hub, Member States will have met their obligations under the INSPIRE Directive with regard to the 2021 census grid data reduced burden for Member States

Conclusions Responding to the Budapest Memorandum An important new development for the 2021 census programme Increasing importance of geospatial data combined with social and economic statistics A pilot for further development in the post-2021 census Technical and legal problems have been overcome thanks to positive cooperation within ESS

The DSS is invited to … note the development of the technical proposals for the dissemination of 2021 census grid data for a 1km² grid; approve the draft regulation for submission to the European Statistical System Committee.