|
FOREWORD
The Census of Population, Households and Dwellings 2011 (hereinafter referred to as: Census) was carried out in the Republic of Croatia from 1 to 28 April 2011 on the basis of the Act on the Census of Population, Households and Dwellings in the Republic of Croatia in 2011 (NN, No. 92/10) (hereinafter referred to as: Act).
The Census was prepared according to the Conference of European Statisticians Recommendations for the 2010 Censuses of Population and Housing. The aim of the Recommendations is to provide guidelines to countries in the planning and implementation of the census of population and housing, to facilitate the regional comparability of data by using the core sets of census topics and to harmonise definitions and classifications.
Since the Republic of Croatia is a candidate for the membership in the European Union, the Census is, in terms of definitions and classifications, fully harmonised with the Regulation (EC) No. 763/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on population and housing censuses and the Regulation (EC) No. 1201/2009 implementing Regulation (EC) No 763/2008 as regards the technical specifications of the topics and of their breakdowns.
The Croatian Bureau of Statistics was in charge of the preparation, organisation and implementation of the Census. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Justice were in charge of the enumeration of specific categories of population (Articles 25 – 28 of the Act), while the State Geodetic Administration was in charge of the technical documentation.
In all counties and in the City of Zagreb there were county census committees and the Census Committee of the City of Zagreb established. Also, established were branch census committees for the areas of towns and municipalities, that is, for the areas of districts of the City of Zagreb. Finally, as the lowest organisation units of the Census, established were census centres for areas of town or municipality sections and town districts of the City of Zagreb respectfully.
About 17 000 persons participated in the implementation of the Census, out of which there were about 14 000 enumerators and about 2 000 controllers.
The First Results of the Census were obtained by a direct summing up of census units (persons, households and dwellings) at the lowest spatial unit level, that is, at the level of an enumeration area. The results at the enumeration area level, created by each enumerator, were then aggregated at the level of higher spatial units, that is, for settlements, towns/municipalities, counties and the City of Zagreb as well as for the whole of the Republic of Croatia.
The First Results of the 2011 Census contain data on the total number of enumerated persons as well as on the total number of population, households and housing units at the level of the Republic of Croatia, statistical spatial units at level 2, counties, towns/municipalities and settlements.
The 2011 Census data are not directly comparable to the 2001 Census data because, in the meantime, a statistical definition of the total population was partly changed according to the international standards.
At this point, the First Results may still be a subject of change since a detailed data processing is still to come. Final results of the Census will be made known after the data processing is completed and will be released according to the publishing programmes and calendars of statistical data issues of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics.
The Census was carried out successfully and on time. Even this time, a great experience and expertise of the statisticians of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics in the preparation, organisation and implementation of statistical surveys were exceptionally important.
I would like to express my special gratitude to the citizens of the Republic of Croatia, who mostly contributed, with their responsibility in co-operation and their exceptional response, to the realisation of such a huge and comprehensive statistical survey as the population census.
I would also like to express my gratitude to all persons who participated in the Census: enumerators, controllers, instructors, co-ordinators, supervisors of census centres, members of county and branch census committees and to others who in any way participated in the Census.
Dr. Ivan Kovač, Ph.D. Director General Zagreb, June 2011
NOTES ON METHODOLOGY
Census is a statistical survey carried out at regular intervals (most often every ten years) for the purpose of official enumeration of the population, households and dwellings on the territory of a country, collecting basic data on demographic, ethnic, educational, economic, migration and other characteristics of population. In addition, the census provides data on households and families as well as on dwellings, their size and installations in them, which is further used as a base for the analysis of the housing situation and the housing standard.
Census data are necessary for implementing various economic and social development policies or scientific research.
Considering the numerosity of units to be enumerated as well as the number and variability of response modalities, the Census is the most comprehensive statistical survey that requires huge financial means and special organisation (outside the framework of regular statistical surveys).
The Census includes the process of collection of data in the field, data processing, aggregating of individual data, evaluation, dissemination and analysis of data.
Enumeration period and census moment
In the Republic of Croatia, the Census took place between 1 and 28 April 2011 according to the situation as on 31 March 2011 at midnight, which shall be deemed the census moment. It is necessary to determine this moment because of changes that affect Census units.
For example, if a child was born on 1 April, it has not been enumerated despite of the fact it was present in the household when the enumerator carried out enumeration in that household. On the other hand, if a person died on 2 April, the enumerator enumerated that person according to the information by household members, regardless of the fact that the person had already been dead by the time the enumerator visited the household.
Legal basis for the implementation of the Census
The 2011 Census was implemented on the basis of the Act on the Census of Population, Households and Dwellings in the Republic of Croatia in 2011 (NN, No. 92/10), which regulates the content, preparation, organisation and implementation of the Census, obligations of state and other bodies included in the Census, enumeration period, processing, keeping and releasing of results and the way of providing finances for the Census.
Territorial constitution
In line with Article 21 of the Act, the Census has been carried out on the basis of official data from the Register of Spatial Units, which were provided by the State Geodetic Administration.
According to the situation as on 31 March 2011, the Republic of Croatia had 21 counties (including the City of Zagreb), 127 towns, 429 municipalities and 6 756 settlements.
Method of implementation of the Census
The 2011 Census was carried out by using a traditional method, that is, by using face-to-face interviews carried out by interviewers and using the following specially designed forms: the Personal Questionnaire (P-1 form) and the Household and Dwelling Questionnaire (P-2 form).
Each enumerator was obliged to enumerate a certain enumeration area in which he/she had to enumerate all census units.
In line with the Act, the Census included three units: population, households and dwellings and other housing units that are not dwellings by definition but were used for habitation at the census moment.
Confidentiality of census data
One of the basic principles of the official statistics implies the protection and confidentiality of individual data.
The Census participants are obliged to permanently keep as official secret all individual data on citizens that they learned during the enumeration or will learn during the data processing in the Croatian Bureau of Statistics.
Individual data collected in the Census may only be used for statistical purposes and will be expressed strictly in an aggregate form at the levels of the Republic of Croatia, counties, towns/municipalities and settlements.
The protection and confidentiality of individual data is guaranteed by the Act on the Census of Population, Households and Dwellings in the Republic of Croatia in 2011 (NN, No. 92/10), the Official Statistics Act (NN, Nos. 103/03 and 75/09) and the Act on Personal Data Protection (NN, No. 103/03).
International statistical standards used in the 2011 Census
The 2011 Census is harmonised with international standards that define the joint rules for the collection of data on population and housing and prescribe definitions that countries are obliged to apply in their censuses in order to provide the international comparability of data. The most important of them are the following:
FIRST RESULTS
In line with Article 37 of the Act on the Census of Population, Households and Dwellings, the Croatian Bureau of Statistics is obliged to release the first results by 30 June 2011.
The first, that is, preliminary results of the Census are prepared immediately after the Census is finished in order to meet the interests of experts and broader public for basic data on the number of population, households and dwellings.
First results are broad data on the number and territorial dispersion of census units (persons, households and dwellings). They are limited in their content and were obtained by summing up of first results got on the P-3 form (Control Sheet) by enumerators for the enumeration area they were in charge of.
The results at the enumeration area level were then summed up at the higher territorial units, that is, at the level of settlements, towns/municipalities, counties and the City of Zagreb and, at the end, at the level of the Republic of Croatia.
The first results are still a subject to changes, while the final results of the 2011 Census will be done only after the data processing is finished, in which each questionnaire will be put to numerous controls.
Explanations of tables
Table 1 presents the first results of the Census for the Republic of Croatia, statistical spatial units at level 2, counties and the City of Zagreb.
Table 2 presents, within each county, the first results for towns/municipalities and settlements appurtenant to them, while data for the City of Zagreb are presented only by settlements.
Table 3 presents the first results for the districts of the City of Zagreb.
The enumeration was carried out from 1 till 28 April 2011, when the enumerators went out into the field and enumerated all census units. However, individual persons or whole households were not enumerated at that time for various reasons, so they had to check in and be enumerated in census centres or branch census committees during additional several days after the Census had been officially completed. Data on all census units (persons, households and dwellings) that were enumerated with delay are presented separately below the data of each town/municipality.
During the data processing, all units enumerated with delay will be included in the enumeration area according to their address.
Total number of enumerated persons (column 1)
The information on the total number of enumerated persons refers to all persons enumerated in the Census, that is, to persons for whom the Personal Questionnaire (P-1 form) was duly filled in.
It could had happened that the same person was presented twice in the first results, that is, in one settlement enumerated as a resident and in the other one as a temporary present person (e.g. students). This duplicity will be eliminated in the final results after the data processing is over.
Total population (column 2)
One has to distinguish between the total number of enumerated persons (column 1) and the total population, that is, the number of persons who are, according to the statistical definition, included in the total population of the census settlement or the Republic of Croatia respectively (column 2).
In the 2011 Census, according to the international statistical standards, the concept of usual residence is used in defining of the total population.
According to this concept, the total population of the census settlement, or a country respectively, consists of all persons whose place of usual residence is located in that settlement or country.
The place of usual residence is considered a place where a person spends most of his/her daily time, irrespective of a short-term absence from it (e.g. due to going to vacation, trip, medical treatment, visit etc.).
In line with the definition of the place of usual residence, the total population should include the following persons:
Therefore, the period of one year or longer and the intention of presence/absence of at least one year are the basic criteria for the inclusion or exclusion of persons in/from the total population of the country, that is, the census settlements.
In line with the international statistical standards, Article 15 of the Act defines categories of persons who will not be included in the total population of the Republic of Croatia. These are the following:
In order to obtain the total population in the simplest way possible, certain parameters for the defining of the total population were excluded from the process of the calculation of the first results, but they will be taken into account in the process of the calculation of the final results of the Census. In the first place, it included the intention of the absence from the census settlement and the intention of the presence in the census settlement respectively (expressed in years or in months). Also, in the first results, the total population did not include the diplomatic personnel of the Republic of Croatia and members of their families living with them abroad, who were absent from the country for more than a year and seldom coming to it. They will be included in the total population in the final results, irrespective of the duration of their residence abroad.
Households (columns 3 and 4)
Two types of households were present in the Census: private and institutional.
Household is any family or other nucleus of persons who claimed to reside and live together and to share their income to cover the basic costs of living (accommodation, food and so forth), irrespective of whether all members reside in the settlement that was the place of usual residence of the household or some of them temporarily reside in another settlement in the Republic of Croatia or abroad for employment, education or other reasons.
Household is also considered each person who lives alone in a census settlement and does not have a household in another settlement in the Republic of Croatia or abroad (one-person household).
Institutional household is the one consisting of persons living in e.g. homes for the elderly, institutions for the permanent accommodation of children and adults, in hospitals for the permanent accommodation of the terminally ill, in convents as well as any group consisting of more than ten persons permanently accommodated in a foster family etc. The latter ones are usually households established by a legal entity or a natural person for a long-term placing and care of a particular group of people.
Data presented in column 3 refer to the total number of households (private and institutional), while those presented in column 4 refer only to private households.
Housing units – total (column 5)
Data refer to the total number of enumerated housing units.
The Census covered all dwellings that match the definition of dwelling as well as other housing units that are not dwellings by definition but were used for habitation at the Census moment.
Dwelling is a construction unit intended for housing purposes, consisting of one or more rooms with or without auxiliary rooms (kitchen, pantry, hallway, bathroom, toilet, etc.) and having a separate entrance directly from a hall, staircase, yard or street.
Dwellings were enumerated irrespective of whether at the Census moment they were used either only for habitation, for habitation and running a business, only for running a business, for habitation during seasonal works in agriculture, for rest and recreation or they were temporarily non-occupied or abandoned dwellings that were functional in construction terms.
As a rule, the Census included only completed dwellings. A dwelling is considered completed when all planned works in it have been completed, which made that dwelling functional for habitation as a whole. The completed dwelling may be located in a building that has not been completed yet.
Exceptionally, the Census covered a non-completed dwelling if used by a household for habitation at the Census moment.
The Census also covered premises and facilities that were not dwellings in construction terms but were used for habitation at the Census moment. This comprised, for example, an occupied basement, warehouse, garage, occupied business premise (warehouse, office or hotel room) as well as mobile or immobile facilities, for example a wagon, ship, tent, trailer, hut etc.
In addition, the Census covered collective dwellings, that is, premises used for organised accommodation and habitation of larger groups of people (institutional households or temporarily present persons). These are, for example, homes for the elderly, homes for placing of children and youths, institutions for the permanent accommodation of the terminally ill, students' or pupils' homes, prisons, military facilities etc.
Housing units – dwellings for permanent habitation (column 6)
Dwellings for permanent habitation are housing units that match the definition of a dwelling, which were at the Census moment used only for habitation, for habitation and running of a business or were temporarily unoccupied or abandoned.
|