Setting up a census hub for the Western Balkans PGSC, Kruševo October 2018

Idea The idea of setting up a Census Hub for the Western Balkans (WB): Inspired by Eurostat’s Census Hub and user needs The Census Hub is an on-line application developed by Eurostat that allow users to access European census data (EU/EFTA countries) “at one point” and in an easy and flexible manner. Users can specify the tables that they need and extract the necessary data from the databases held by the NSIs. First time presented in Belgrade on the Conference „Towards 2021 Census“ (one of the conference conclusions) How could users obtain census data for Western Balkan countries in the easiest possible way?

Idea In each WB country census will be compliant with international recommendations and EU regulations Possibility of establishing the common infrastructure basis for the Western Balkan’s regional hub for the Censuses’ data dissemination?

From the user's perspective Census data 2021 WB Census Hub WB countries census data Eurostat EU/EFTA countries User Census data 2011 NSI

Benefits For users For NSIs Easier to access comparable census data at "one place" especially for researchers and users interested in comparable data about the region easier comparison of the region/countries with EU/EFTA Without charge For NSIs Greater visibility of census data

IST – Integrated Survey Techonology How? Existence and usage of the same IT platform in WB countries IST – Integrated Survey Techonology The concept of integrated data processing system is initially developed in SORS and in the last several years shared with other countries in the region IST can provide the base for the creation of the foundation for common WB regional hub for the Censuses’ data dissemination

IST implementation In Potential implementation? Full implementation of IST SORS Serbia MONSTAT Montenegro RSIS Republic of Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina) INSTAT Albania In Potential implementation?

Forming a Working Group Same platform provides possibilities that NSI experts develop solutions in a flexible and agile way Forming a Working Group (WG) – from every NSI at least one expert from IT and one from methodology unit WG will have task to design and make one IT solution, with all procedures for preparing required reports and tabulation Their mission will be to work collaboratively in order to deliver more quickly useful product and service Solution should be shared among all NSIs

Unique solution for all WB countries As IST deals with relational databases, developed solution can be usable in all (enlargement) countries who based their data processing on relational databases even if they have not implemented IST All database procedures will be writen in standard SQL language in order to be useful in other systems

Conclusion This exercise is likely to be difficult and will require additional effort, additional engagement and additional resources of each NSI, but it will also be an exceptional opportunity to deepen and strengthen the cooperation among WB’s NSIs. With joint forces, we can create one, reusable solution, shared between NSIs and thus make an important improvement for users and provide greater visibility of census data as well as of WB region itself. 

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