Abstract
This chapter offers an overview of the main data collection operations that support population policies. The characteristics of the three main data collection operations (the national census of population and housing, systems of civil registration and population registers, and sample surveys) are first reviewed. Given their contribution to the field of demography, the demographic surveys are then reviewed in more detail, discussing their benefits and limitations. The chapter turns then to two innovative data collection operations (i.e., the hybrid methodology for population estimates and Big Data) that were developed to address some of the limitations of the traditional data collection methods, to fill gaps in the data, and/or increase data availability and use. The development of these innovative data collection operations brings many hopes but also poses several questions for the production of population data. To conclude, the chapter stresses the need for data to be available, accessible, timely, well documented, reliable, and inclusive in order to support population policies.
The views expressed in this chapter are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
In the less developed countries, “indirect questions” have often been added to census questionnaires in order to obtain estimations of mortality, fertility, and, occasionally, migration. Such information is analyzed with so-called indirect estimation techniques.
- 3.
These countries (with the date of their last census) are: Lebanon (1932), Afghanistan (1979), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (1984), Eritrea (1984), Somalia (1987), Uzbekistan (1989), Madagascar (1993), Iraq (1997), and Turkmenistan (1995) (United Nations Population Division, 2019: 3). To note, Turkmenistan conducted a population census in 2012, but data are yet to be released.
- 4.
A PES is a sample survey asking the same questions as the census, but administered to a select random sample (often stratified) of the population. The results are used to check the patterns in the full census data, to identify any anomalies or errors in the census data tabulation and analysis.
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For further details on these points, see Spoorenberg, 2020.
- 6.
Confidentiality is one of the ten fundamental principles of official statistics, requiring statistical agencies that “Individual data collected by statistical agencies for statistical compilation, whether they refer to natural or legal persons, are to be strictly confidential and used exclusively for statistical purposes”; see https://unstats.un.org/unsd/dnss/hb/E-fundamental%20principles_A4-WEB.pdf, accessed on June 30, 2020.
- 7.
See van de Walle, 2018 for further details on the development of civil registration systems.
- 8.
For further details, see https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic-social/crvs/index.cshtml#coverage, accessed on June 30, 2020.
- 9.
These sites differ by population size and time coverage. For more details on HDSS, see http://www.indepth-network.org/member-centres, accessed on September 10, 2020.
- 10.
WFS surveys are available at: https://wfs.dhsprogram.com/, accessed on June 10, 2020.
- 11.
Current and previous questionnaires are available at: https://dhsprogram.com/publications/publication-search.cfm?type=35, accessed on June 10, 2020.
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- 13.
- 14.
In the MICS-6 round, three questions are used to collect information on birth registration: (1) “Does (name) have a birth certificate? If yes, ask: May I see it?”; (2) “Has (name)’s birth been registered with the civil authorities?”; (3) “Do you know how to register (name)’s birth?” This information is used to monitor and track achievement towards SDG Indicator 16.9.1.
- 15.
For further information on MICS tools used in each round, see https://mics.unicef.org/tools, accessed on June 30, 2020.
- 16.
A comparison of population counts from different gridded populations is available at: https://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/mapping/popgrid/, accessed on July, 6 2020.
- 17.
See https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/, accessed on July 6, 2020.
- 18.
The United Nations (2014: 6) defined ‘data revolution’ as: “An explosion in the volume of data, the speed with which data are produced, the number of producers of data, the dissemination of data, and the range of things on which there is data, coming from new technologies such as mobile phones and the “internet of things”, and from other sources, such as qualitative data, citizen-generated data and perceptions data; A growing demand for data from all parts of society”.
- 19.
During a capacity-building workshop for sub-Saharan African countries that the United Nations Population Division organized in 2015, a participant, Officer in a national statistics institution, remarked ironically that people who have never set a foot in his country know better than the local administration what is happening in a given rural county.
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Spoorenberg, T. (2022). Data Collection for Population Policies. In: May, J.F., Goldstone, J.A. (eds) International Handbook of Population Policies. International Handbooks of Population, vol 11. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-02040-7_16
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