International census resources

• International
  
• Europe
  
• Africa
  
• Asia
  
• Australasia
  
• North America
  
• Russia
  
• South America
  

Most, but not all, countries conduct regular censuses of their populations. For many countries this is a statutory requirement, sometimes at the supranational level (e.g. the European Union). In 1995 the United Nations even passed a resolution calling on all its member countries to compile census data by 2004. However, a census is only possible with the general consent of the population and in some countries this is no longer present. For example, Germany has not taken a full census since the census planned for 1983 had to be postponed until 1987 because of public concern over the proposed use of census returns to update local population registers. The Netherlands have not had a census since 1971, following a high level of refusal in 1971, and poor test returns in 1979. Both these and a number of other countries (including Denmark) have turned to alternative data sources, particularly population and housing registers and sample surveys, as the source of population statistics.

Census.ac.uk does not provide access to these international resources and cannot vouch for the quality or appropriateness of those listed below, except to say that it is believed these are some of the most significant, especially for modern census data. The following is not comprehensive and ESDS International (part of the Economic and Social Data Service ) and the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series — International (IPUMS-International) are likely to be useful starting points. A list of international statistical agencies is maintained by the US Census Bureau and Wikipedia also has an entry for Census, with censuses listed by country.

International

ESDS International provides access to, and support for, a range of international datasets - both macro and micro sources. The service aims to promote and facilitate increased and more effective use of international datasets in research, learning and teaching across a range of disciplines. It provides a wealth of links to census and other data across the world.

IPUMS-International collects, disseminates and harmonises census data from around the world. It currently holds census data for 20 countries including data from North, Central and South America, South-east Asia, China, Europe and Africa.

Europe

Eurostat is the Statistical Office of the European Communities. It gathers and analyses figures from the different European statistics offices in order to provide comparable and harmonised data. The web site provides direct access to statistical information on the European Union, the EU Member States, the euro-zone and other countries, and includes census data. Madiera provides online browsing of European data including some census data. Volkstellingen 1795-1971 provides a full-text digitised version of two centuries of the Dutch census: an initiative of the Netherlands Institute for Scientific Information Services and Statistics Netherlands. Census statistical information is also available online for Austria, Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Norway, and Spain. The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) provides resources including an overview of the practices adopted in UNECE countries, census forms and training videos at it’s population and housing censuses web page.

Africa

The 2001 Census results for South Africa are available online at Statistics South Africa.

Asia

Census of India, the web site of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner in India, has some information and data arising from the population census in India. Data from the 2001 Census in Hong Kong are available from the Census and Statistics Department.

Australasia

The Australian Bureau of Statistics provides a wide range of census data free of charge or for a fee for customised data. For New Zealand, statistics are provided through the government’s Statisphere web site.

North America

The U.S. Census Bureau is responsible for taking a census of the population of the United States every 10 years, as well as carrying out many other surveys. The web site offers a comprehensive range of products and services based on these data. CensusScope is a graphical tool for investigating U.S. demographic trends. ZIPskinny offers U.S. census data searchable by ZIP code. NHGIS is a database incorporating all available aggregate census information for the United States between 1790 and 2000. The Historical Census Browser provides access to U.S. historical census data. Census Online gives links, tools and software for international, largely North American, census resources. Statistics Canada is the national statistical agency for Canada.

Russia

Statistics are available online at the Federal State Statistics service web site.

South America

For Peru, modern census data are available online from the National Institute of Statistics and informatics (INEI), the latest information relating to 2005. ther South American data are available via IPUMS-International.