The Population Census in Austria

Abstract

Based on the Constitution, the Population Census in Austria is a matter of the central state, serving many political-administrative, planning, research, and other purposes. After its start as a systematic operation in the middle of the 18th century, it developed further by a modern legal basis in 1857 and advances in statistical technology in 1890 (punch cards) and 1971 (machinereadable questionnaires). In the second half of the 20th century, the Population Census became a comprehensive operation, including dwellings, buildings, and workplaces. The communes organized the classical method of on the spot household data collection on behalf of the state. The register-based Census replaced the household collection in 2011. Following a government decision of 2000, which aimed at the sole use of available micro-data, the first steps for creating
the necessary administrative and statistical registers took place in conjunction with the last traditional census of 2001. With new provisions for linking the records, the Register Census Act of 2006, and a full test census in the same year, the new methodology was established and evaluated in a short period. The first regular Register Census “took place” with reference date 31 October 2011. It is described in the central part of this communication, featuring the advantages, strengths, and weaknesses, the backbone registers, the “comparison registers,” and the redundancy principle, which help to ensure high data quality and the fit of the census into the international framework. Current developments include the annual update of results,
changes and improvements in the data sources, and a short outlook on the next census of 2021.