Activities and Teams

Three activities over three years are provided under the Census project:

1. A global evaluation is performed for the twenty censuses included in the database by mid-2007. Demographic methods are applied to population data provided by the national institutes of statistics and to statistical elaborations from the European Census Microdata base to assess the coverage and quality of information available in censuses in general and in the samples provided to the users in particular. Special attention is devoted to continuity of information in the same country and to international comparability among the seven countries in the database.

2. A specific research is conducted to test the operational value of the database. The topic is the prevalence and factors of multi-generational co-residence of adults during the recent decades. It has been chosen for its social relevance in the seven countries, mostly located in Southern and Eastern Europe, from Portugal to Belarus, via the Balkans, France acting as a North-Western benchmark. But still more importantly, technical complexity will make the test highly significant, with a combination of individual, household and geographical data requesting a maximum flexibility of the database to face the multilevel challenge.

3. Training courses are offered to potential users of census microdata, with an emphasis on precautions for use identified in the previous two activities. There is one school per year divided in complementary and sequential training courses at different levels (beginners and advanced). Participants are given the opportunity to carry out analyses themselves during practical ‘hands on' sessions, making use of the appropriate statistical software. The courses are included in the international doctoral schools associated to IEDUB/University Bordeaux IV and INED.

The Census project is led by three French research teams:

- the unity of international comparisons of the National Institute of Demographic Studies (INED)

- the Institute of Demographic Studies at the University of Bordeaux IV (IEDUB)

- the European Demographic Observatory (ODE)

which combine external partners.

Click on each team to learn more.