Census of Population, Households and Dwellings

Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia

Division for Population Census

Ljiljana Djordjevic

Head of the Division for Population Census

5 Milana Rakića, Belgrade

ljiljana.djordjevic@stat.gov.rs

011 2401 347

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The Census of Population, Households and Dwellings is the most massive and complex statistical exercise through which data on population and housing stock of a country are collected.  In addition, the census is at the same time the principal and only source of data for the smallest territorial units (settlements, statistical and enumeration areas).

The census provides data on the total number of inhabitants and territorial population distribution by major demographic, migrational, ethno-cultural, educational, economic and other characteristis, as well as data on the total number, territorial distribution and major characteristics of households, families, dwellings, occupied premises and buildings.

The main enumeration units are: persons, households and dwellings, while the data on families and buildings are derived during processing.

The 2022 Census was carried out from 1 to 31 October 2022. The data were collected directly from citizens by interview method when the enumerators used laptops to enter citizens’ responses in electronic questionnaires (CAPI method). In unique occasions, the citizens who were not willing to let the enumerator in their dwelling for fear of coronavirus infection  or had infected persons were enabled, in arrangement with their enumerator,  to set a time for a telephone interview (CATI method), when the enumerators also entered the responses in electronic questionnaires.

Field data collection was extended for 7 days in certain city municipalities of the City of Belgrade, as well as in Uzice, Valjevo, Smederevo, Pancevo, Sabac, Novi Sad and Subotica. At the same time, on-call duties were organised in the premises of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia and in local authorities‘ units in order to allow the citizens who for whatever reason were not enumerated to be interviewed by telephone.  Telephone interview lasted until 17 November 2022.

It is in the 2022 Census that was introduced for the first time the mechanism for linking census and geospatial data up to the level of house number, thus creating the conditions to present a dataset in 1 km² grid.

Field quality control of the data collected through the Census took place from 2 to 11 December 2022 on a sample of 250 enumeration areas in order to identify coverage errors and census data quality.

The use of innovative technical and technological solutions in the 2022 Census allowed to check immediately after the enumeration, and in a short period of time the coverage of enumeration areas  and to identify the areas with a share of enumerated persons lower than the estimated number. With the aim of improving the coverage, it was in the 2022 Census that was applied for the first time the method of imputation from administrative sources of persons (about 3%) for whom it was found that they resided at the time of the 2022 Census in the Republic of Serbia and who were not enumerated for whatever reason. 

  The 2022 Census was not conducted on the territory of the AP Kosovo and Metohija.

In compliance with international recommendations the following international classifications and code lists were used:

-    International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-08),

-    International Classification of Activities (NACE Rev. 2),

-    International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED-2011),

-    Foreign Country Code List (ISO 3116 UN CountyCod).

https://www.stat.gov.rs/en-US/istrazivanja/klasifikacije

Apart from this, used were code lists of municipalities, cities, city municipalities and settlements (Register of Spatial Units), as well as internal code lists of ethnicity, religion and mother tongue.

Not applicable.

Usually resident population – core topic

In order to determine the total number of inhabitants, the concept of „usually resident population“ was used, according to which a person is considered to be an inhabitant of the place in which she/he alone (in case of a one-person household) or with the members of her/his household lives, irrespective of where the person has her/his residence registered. According to the definition of the place of usual residence, the usually resident population includes persons who live in that place continuously for at least 12 months before the critical census moment, as well as persons who live in that place for less than 12 months but with an intention to stay there for at least one year.

The persons who were at the critical census moment temporarily (for a short period of time) absent from the place of usual residence on account of vacation, business trip, medical treatment, etc., were included in the total population of that place.

Certain categories of population have a specific treatment, which to an extent deviate from this rule, as follows:

• Persons who work in another place in the country or abroad are included in the total population of the place of usual residence of their household if they return to that place at least three times a month.
• Primary school pupils and secondary school students who do their schooling in another place in the Republic of Serbia or abroad, are included in the total population of the place in which their household resides, irrespective of the length of their absence, intention or frequency of returning.
• The citizens of the Republic of Serbia who study abroad are included, irrespective of the length of absence, in the total population of the place of residence of their household if they return to that place at least three times a month.
• Foreign students who study in our country are included in the total population of the place in which they are enumerated if they return less frequently to their homeland.
• Children who, after the divorce of their parents, live alternately in two households are included in the total population of the place in which they spend more time. In case that they spend equal time in both households, they are included in the population of the place in which they found themselves at the critical census moment.

• Homeless and other persons without permanent or temporary address are included in the total population of the place in which they were enumerated.

When comparing the data on the total number of inhabitants in the 2022 Census with those from earlier censuses, it should be taken into account that the data collected through direct enumeration were complemented with those retrieved from administrative sources.

Demographic characteristics

Sex – core topic

Sex is a biological characteristic of a person. The person may be of male or female sex.

Age – core topic

Age is shown in completed years of age.

Marital status – core topic

The data were obtained on the basis of the statements of persons regarding their formal and lawful, i.e., their legal marital status. Answers to this question were provided by all the respondents regardless of their de facto marital status, which means that those who live in consensual unions also provided data on their legal marital status.

Following modalities are offered:

Never married (i.e. single) – for persons who had never gotten married.

Married (live together) – for persons who has gotten married in accordance to legal regulations whereby the persons who only entered into religious marriage are not considered as married.

Married (do not live together) – for persons who has initiated divorce proceedings, but the final court decision has not been taken by the critical census moment, as well as the person who, although not living together (the spouses have separated have not initiated any divorce proceeding)

Divorced – for persons whose marriage has been divorced by a final judgment the competent court

Widowed – for person who has not re-married after the death of their spouse.

Data on the legal marital status are presented for persons aged 15 and over.

De facto  marital status (consensual union) – non-core topic

The data on persons living in consensual union were obtained on the basis of the statements of persons on the factual marital status. The response to this question was provided by all the persons regardless of their legal marital status, except for whome the modality „Married (live together)“ was listed for the question on legal marital status.

Data on the De facto marital status are presented for persons aged 15 and over.

Number of liveborn children – non-core topic

Number of liveborn childer includes children who were not alive at the time of the critical census moment. Stilborn children, adopted children as well as children from the previous marriage of the spouse/partner were not included in the total number of liveborn children

Years of birth of liveborn children – topic is not foreseen by international recommendations

Years of birth of each liveborn child were entered in order to their birth, regardless of whether all children were alive at the census critical time. Years of birth were entered for the first four children in their order, while for person who has more than four children, years of birt were entered for the first three children and for the youngest one.

Ethno-cultural characteristics (ethnicity, religion and mother tongue)  – non-core topics

The questions on ethnicity and religion are formulated as open-ended questions, with legal instructions saying that, pursuant to the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, citizens are not under obligation to declare themselves in terms of their ethnicity (article 47) and religious beliefs (article 43).

Mother tongue is, also, formulated as open-ended question. Mother tongues is the first language spoken in early childhood, i.e. if several languages were spoken in the household, it is the language that the person considered to be her/his mother tongue.

Educational characteristics

Educational attainment – core topic

The highest school completed implies the school after which completion a person achieved the highest level of education. The person is deemed having attained a certain educational level if she/he completed all the grades of the school she/he enrolled in.

The question about highest school completed related exclusively to education provided within the official educational system, meaning that education received in the scope of non-standardised programs, i.e. informal education (programmes/trainings/cources outside the formal system) was not considered as an appropriate answer.

Data on the highest school completed were collected for the persons aged 15 and over.

School attendance – non-core topic

The data on school attendace was collected for all persons. For persons who attend school (full-time or part-time), including children who are included in pre-school education, data on the level of school that person attends is shown.

If the person has temporarily stopped schooling due to e.g. illness, information was collected on the level of school that the person attended at the time of interruption, i.e. if person temporarily interrupted his/hers education after enrollment, on the level of school he/she enrolled in.

It is considered that a person is not in education if he/she has not started schooling, has permanently stopped schooling or has finished schooling.

Literacy – non-core topic

Literacy has been defined as the ability both to read and to write. The literate are taken to be the pupils of primary schools, the pupils of schools that are ranked higher than primary schools, as well as the persons who do not do their schooling at the moment of census but that completed more than three grades of primary school. Moreover, literate persons are also persons without school and persons that completed 1-3 grades of primary school and that stated to be able to both read and write a text on everyday life, no matter of the language and alphabet used. 

Data on literacy were  collected for the persons aged 10 and over.

Computer literacy – non-core topic

Computer literacy is defined as person’s ability to use basic computer applications in performing everyday tasks (for job, in school, at home). Consequently, collected were the data on whether the persons are able to perform text processing and create tables, search information on the Internet and whether she/he has electronic communication skills (sending and receiving electronic mail, using applications Skype, Viber, WhatsApp, etc.).

Data on computer literacy were collected for the persons aged 15 and over.

Migrations

Place of birth – core topic

Data on place of birth where birth was occurred and data on place where the mother resided permanently at the time when the person was born were collected. For deriving migratory characteristics of the population, the place of permanent residence of the mother at the time when person was born considers as the place of birth.

For a person who was born in the Republic of Serbia, that is for a person whose mother resided in the Republic of Serbia at the time when the person was born, the data collected were those on the settlement and municipality of birth, that is of the mother’s place of residence. For a person born abroad, that is for a persons whose mother resided abroad at the time when she/he was born the data on the country where the person was born was collected, that is on the country where the mother resided at that time.

Autochthonous and migrant population

The contingent of autochthonous population is composed of persons who live in the same settlement since their birth. It is also considered that the person has not moved if she/he:

-was born outside the place where the mother resided at that time (for instance, in a maternity ward in another place, at relatives, etc.) and was brought to the mother’s place of residence immediately after birth;

-resided in another place in the Republic of Serbia or abroad less than a year;

-resided in another place in the Republic of Serbia or in any of the republics of the former SFRY during schooling or military service (before the dissolution of the SFRY);

-changed the address of residence within the same settlement.

The contingent of migrant population is composed of persons who have not been living in the place of the census since their birth, that is of persons who previously, resided in another place in the country or abroad for at least one year.

For migrant population the collected data were those on the previous place of residence, as well as on the time of arrival (core topic).

For persons who migrated within the Republic of Serbia the data on the settlement and municipality from which the person moved to the current place of residence were collected. For persons who migrated from abroad only the name of the country from which they moved was collected.

Citizenship – core topic

Citizenship represents the particular legal relationship between the state and an individual acquired by birth, origin, admission or on the basis of a ratified international treaty. It is considered as the core topic in the international recommendations.

The data on citizenship were collected on the basis of the respondent’s answer to the question whether the person has the citizenship of the Republic of Serbia, citizenship of the Republic of Serbia and of another country (double citizenship), only the citizenship of another country or she/he has no citizenship. For persons having both the citizenship of the Republic of Serbia and of another country, as well as for persons having only the citizenship of another country, the name of that country was collected.

Households

Household is the main census unit and the question on the number of household members falls into derived core topics, i.e. topics that are derived during census data processing.

Households are classified into: (1) private (individual) households and (2) collective (institutional) households.

Data on private households are available in dissemination database.

According to the so-called housekeeping concepts, which was used in our census practice, a household comprises persons who live together and share incomes for essentials (food, housing, etc.). A household may be a one-person household (person who lives alone and is not a member of another household regardless of whether he/she lives in a separate dwelling or shares a dwelling with another person) and a multi-person household (when several persons, whether in a relationship or not with other persons, share their expenses for housing and food). Multi-person households could be: family households (they have one or more families in their composition; In addition to persons who are family members, other household members who do not belong to any family can live in the household) and non-family households (they do not have any family in their composition).

Head of household may be any adult household member, male or female.

Families

A family is the community of persons composed of only a married couple or couple living in a consensual union, or of parents (both parents or only one) and their children. A child is every person who, irrespective of the age and marital status, lives in the household with one or both of the parents, and who does not have in that household her/his marital/consensual partner or her/his own child.

Family is a derived census unit that is defined during the processing of the census material, and the question on the type of family belongs to the so-called derived core topics. Looking at the type, families are classified into: (1) marital couple without children, (2) consensual couple without children, (3) marital couple with children, (4) consensual couple with children, (5) mother with children, and (6) father with children.

During the field implementation of the Census, for every household members one collected the data on the name of one parent, name of the marital/consensual partner, relationship with the head of household  and the position of the member in the family (husband/wife, partner in consensual union, common child, mother with a child/children, father with a child/children, child living with one parent, child only of the female partner/wife, child only of the male partner/husband, the person does not belong to the family).

These data were used to control and establish the total number of families in a household, as well as to derive family topics (type of family, number of children in the family, etc.). In addition, to define the families the data on the marital status (de jure and de facto), age and sex were also used.

Economic characteristics

Data on economic activity were collected for persons aged 15 and over. The maximum age limit is not defined due to the fact that persons can be economically active even after leaving the so-called the working contingent (15-64 years).

Labour force status - core topic

The economically active population ("labor force") includes employed and unemployed persons.

Employed persons are:

- those who, in the week preceding the Census (24-30 September), performed any paid work for at least one hour (in money, kind/goods or services), or worked as a contributing member in a family business that brings income, as well as

- those who have a paid job from which they were absent in the week preceding the Census due to sickness, annual paid leave or for some other reason, and to which they will return after absence.

Unemployed persons are those who did not work in the reference week, who were actively looking for a job (through the employment service or independently) in the four weeks preceding Census and who were able to start working in the next two weeks.

The economically inactive population ("outside the labor force") consists of persons who did not work and did not look for work in the week before the Census, and who were not able to start working in the next two weeks if they were offered a job - children under the age of 15 and persons aged 15 and over who are: pupils/students, pensioners, persons with income from property or investments, persons engaged in the production of goods for the needs of their household, persons who perform unpaid housework in their household and other persons (persons who cannot be classified into any of the aforementioned categories, e.g. persons who in the reference week were serving a prison sentence, persons on voluntary military service, persons unable to work due to illness or disability, etc.).

Functioning and social integration (disability) – non-core topic

When defining methodological references for the collection of data on disability, the sociological approach was used according to which a person may consider that, despite certain health issues, he/she has no problems in accomplishing out daily activities.

It is not considered that a person has difficulties if he/she has only a short-term health problem at the moment which currently limits the person in accomplishing daily activities.

Data on disability were obtained on the basis of the respondents' answers to questions whether they have difficulties in performing daily activities due to problems with:

1. seeing (even provided with glasses),

2. hearing (even provided with hearing aid),

3. walking or climbing stairs,

4. remembering/concentration,

5. independence with clothing/taking food/personal hygiene,

6. communication (speech, mutual understanding with people and in surrounding).

To each of the questions asked, the person could declare that: (1) there are no difficulties, (2) there are small difficulties, (3) there are many difficulties, (4) fully disabled in performing daily activities and (5) does not want to reply.

Questions were not asked for children below the age of two. For children aged two to four, questions were asked only about seeing, hearing and walking, while for persons aged five and above, whole question was posed.

The census collects data on persons, households (private and collective) and dwellings, while the data on families and buildings are derived during processing.

The census collects data for all persons, including those who, during the census, were not in the place where their household resides permanently. It is during processing that the contingent of usual population is derived.

Census data are presented in compliance with the Nomenclature of Statistical Territorial Units – NSTJ („Official Gazette of the RS“, no. 109/09 and 46/10) that defines statistical functional territorial units, i.e. three hierarchical levels: NSTJ 1 (Serbia – north and Srbia - south), NSTJ 2 (regions) and NSTJ 3 (areas). 

The data on the level of municipalities/cities and settlements are presented in compliance with the Law on the Territorial Organisation of the Republic of Serbia (“Official Gazette of the RS“, no. 129/2007, 18/2016, 47/2018 and 9/2020 – other laws).

To present the data by type of settlement the so-called administrative-legal criterion was used, according to which settlements are divided into “urban” (which received this status by legal act of local authorities’ units) and “other”.

  The 2022 Census was not conducted on the territory of the AP Kosovo and Metohija.

Data are expressed as at the critical census moment (30 September 2022 at 24:00). 

Not applicable.

Number of statistical units.

Data are presented as at 30 September 2022 at 24:00 (critical census moment).

The 2022 Census was conducted pursuant to the:

-Law on the 2022 Census of Population, Households and Dwellings (“Official Gazette of the RS”, no. 9/2020 and 35/2021),

- Law on Official Statistics (“Official Gazette of the RS, no. 104/09, 24/11"),

​- Decision on the Programme of Official Statistics  over the period 2021 - 2025,

​- Regulation on Establishing the Plan of Official Statistics for 2022.

 (Documents | Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia)

Not applicable.

Data confidentiality is regulated by the:

- Law on the 2022 Census of Population, Households and Dwellings (“Official Gazette of the RS“, no. 9/2020 and 35/2021),

- Law on Official Statistics (“Official Gazette of the RS, no. 104/09, 24/11")

  - Rulebook on the Protection of Statistical Data in the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia.

    (Documents | Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia)

- Law on Personal Data Protection („Official Gazette of the RS“, no. 87/2018)

- Аct on Personal Data Protection Impact Assessment in the Census of Population, Households and Dwellings.

Pursuant to the Law on the 2022 Census (“Official Gazette of the RS”, no. 9/2020 and 35/2021) and Law on Official Statistics („Official Gazette of the RS“, number 104/09), all the data collected in the Census shall be used exclusively for statistical purposes and shall be published as aggregate data, thus complete secrecy of citizens’ data shall be secured.

Besides, pursuant to the Law on the 2022 Census the enumerators, instructors and other persons engaged in the Census are due to keep all the data on the enumerated persons secret, as well as to make strictly sure that the data provided by the respondents are accurate.

The Rulebook on the Way and Procedure for the Provision of Data Produced by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (SORS, 2017), regulates the way and procedure of providing data to users in compliance with official statistics main principles and free access to information of public interest. (https://www.stat.gov.rs/media/2295/pravilniksrb.pdf)

The release calendar is available on the SORS website.  

(Release Calendar | Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia)

In addition, the Plan of the Release of the 2022 Census data is available on the website dedicated to the Census.

(PUBLICATION PLAN OF THE 2022 CENSUS DATA | ABOUT CENSUS (stat.gov.rs))

Daily time of all SORS publications issuing is 12.00 a.m.

The release calendar is available on the SORS website.  

(Release Calendar | Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia)

In addition, the Plan of the Release of the 2022 Census data is available on the website dedicated to the Census.

(PUBLICATION PLAN OF THE 2022 CENSUS DATA | ABOUT CENSUS (stat.gov.rs))

Census data are available on the SORS website and website dedicated to the Census (the dissemination database and census books in .pdf format). In addition, the census books are also available in printed form.

Access to data is guaranteed to all users at the same time.

Census data published on the SORS website are available free of charge.

Special requests are processed pursuant to the Rulebook on Pricing Policy Implementation in the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (SORS, 2011) (Documents | Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia) and Price List of Special Services of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (https://www.stat.gov.rs/media/2569/cenovnikposebnihusluga.pdf).

Pursuant to the Rulebook on the Way and Procedure for the Provision of Data Produced by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (SORS, 2017), the Office enables the access to individual data without the identifiers (anonymised microdata). (Microdata | Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia)

Data are published in ten-year periodicity.

Statistical release – First Results of the Census of Population, Households and Dwellings, 2022 (Statistical Release)

Note: Census books contain detailed methodological explanations. For data not published in book form, additional explanations are contained in annexes.

The dissemination database is available on the SORS website and website dedicated to the Census. (Dissemination database search (stat.gov.rs))

Pursuant to the Rulebook on the Way and Procedure for the Provision of Data Produced by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (SORS, 2017), the Office enables the access to individual data without the identifiers (anonymised microdata). 

  The request may be submitted by:

  • аccredited R&D organisations (institutions, faculties, universities and centers of excellence);

  • researchers and  doctoral students;

  • institutions implementing a special project financed by national or international research programs.

(Microdata | Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia))

Not applicable.

SORS website and the website dedicated to the Census contain available census forms in the Serbian and English languages, as well as in 20 languages of ethnic minorities.

Methodological materials are also avaialble:

– Мethodological guidelines,

  – Manual for Enumerators,

  – Multilingual Collection,

  – Guidelines for the Enumeration of Persons in Military Barracks, Military Schools and Other Military Institutions under the Ministry of Defence, 

  – Guidelines for the Enumeration of Persons Accommodated in Social Welfare Institutions, 

  – Guidelines for the Enumeration of Incarcerated Persons, 

  – Guidelines for the Enumeration of Persons Assigned to Diplomatic and Consular Representations and other Representations of the Republic of Serbia, and  international organisations abroad.

(METODOLOGICAL MATERIALS | ABOUT CENSUS (stat.gov.rs))

A large amount of internal procedures and guidelines was produced for the purpose of carrying out certain activities. 

SORS Quality Management System is based on the European Statistical Code of Practice and is completely adapted to statistical requirements because the quality of statistical processes, final results, i.e. data and service provision to users is constantly improving. (Quality management system | Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia)

The framework for the implementation of the quality management policy in the censuses of population is defined by the Recommendations for 2020 Censues of Population and Housing, Conference of European Statisticians, as well as by the Regulation (EC) of the European Parliament and Council number 763/2008.  

Field quality control of the data collected through the Census was conducted from 2 to 11 December 2022 on a sample of 250 census areas in order to assess coverage errors and census data quality. 

The content of the Census is defined in compliance with international recommendations and national requirements. Namely, the content of the Census includes a set of core topics defined in the Recommendations for 2020 Censues of Population and Housing, Conference of European Statisticians, as well as some non-core topics of national interest, i.e. of interest for the creators of State policies and final users. Characteristics not foreseen in the Recommendations but being of interest to users are also included.​ 

The Survey on User Satisfaction is conducted by the Office every two years Results of the User satisfaction survey,2021 (stat.gov.rs)

The 2022 Census Methodology is completely harmonised with international standards (Recommendations for 2020 Censues of Population and Housing, Conference of European Statisticians and Regulation (EC) of the European Parliament and Council number 763/2008).

The content of the Census includes all characteristics defined by the Law on the 2022 Census of Population, Households and Dwellings („Official Gazette of the RS, no. 9/2020 and 35/2021"). 

(Documents | Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia)

In  order to assess coverage errors made on the field Quality Control was carried out.

Observation: pursuant to the Plan for the Release of Final Census Results, the results of the Quality Control will be available in the first half of 2024.   

Not applicable.

Quality Control will serve to measure coverage errors and errors in responses to selected questions during data collection on the field.   

• Preliminary census results were published on 21 December 2022.

• Final census results 

 (Note: Dissemination of final Census results takes place successively from April 2023 to June 2024)

   – Ethnicity (28 April 2023)

   – Age and sex (25 May 2023)

      – Religion, mother tongue, ethnicity by age (16 June 2023)

      – Households according to the number of members (7 July 2023)

      – Educational attainment, literacy and computer literacy (31 July 2023)

      – Marital status (25 August 2023)

      – Fertility (25 August 2023)

      –Migration (29 September 2023)

      –Families (20 October 2023)

      –Economic activity (17 November 2023)

      –Disability (1 December 2023)

      – Population by individual age and by school attendance (22 December 2023)

      – Comparative overview of the number of population 1948-2022 (23 February 2024)

      – Comparative overview of the number of households 1948-2022 (23 February 2024)

The data are published in compliance with the Plan of 2022 Census Result Release.

The 2022 Census methodology is completely aligned with international standards (Recommendations for 2020 Censues of Population and Housing, Conference of European Statisticians and Regulation (EC) of the European Parliament and Council number 763/2008), thus international data comparability is provided.

When comparing the data on the total number of population by censuses, it should be taken into account that the data are not completely comparable because of methodological solutions used to determine the place of residence of certain categories of population, which were found throughout the censuses.

2022 Census data may differ from the data of other statistical surveys due to the differences in methodological solutions and applied definitions. For more information see the metadata specific for each domain.

2022 Census data are internally consistent.

The funds for carrying out the Census are provided partly from the budget of the Republic of Serbia and partly from EC funds under IPA 2018 National Programme.

The main principles and standards for the revision of the published statistical data are defined by the General Revision Policy of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia. The General Revision Policy is harmonised with the guidelines from ESS Guidelines on Revision Policy adopted by the European Statistical System Committee.

  (Documents | Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia)

Not applicable.

The Census collects data for all persons, including those who were not, during the Census, in the place where their household have permanent residence.

  To define the dataset for complementing the Census, the following administrative registers and records were used:

  – Central Population Register,

  – Central Register of Compulsory Social Insurance (CRCSI),

  – Records of the National Employment Service,

  –Unique Information Education System,

  –Records of the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund,

  – Records of the Ministry of Labour, Veterans and Social Affairs, and of the Ministry of Demography and Family Care on the recipients of various types         of social welfare,

  – Records of the Republic Fund of Health Insurance on the users of health insurance booklets.

Ten-year dynamics of data collection.

The 2022 Census was carried out from 1 to 31 October. The enumerators used laptops to enter citizens‘ responses in electronic questionnaires (CAPI method), while in unique situations, the citizens were enabled, in arrangement with their enumerator, to set a time for a telephone interview (CATI method), when the enumerators also entered the responses in electronic questionnaires. Two main questionnaires were used to collect data – Individual Questionnaire (form P-1) and Household Questionnaire (form P-2).

In cooperation with relevavnt ministries and special organisations, the Office organised during October 2022 the enumeration of special categories of population that included: militarymen and civilians accommodated in barracks, military schools and other military institutions, as well as the members of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Serbia who are engaged in multinational operations; incarcerated persons; citizens of the Republic of Serbia in diplomatic and consular representations of the Republic of Serbia, as well as the members of their households who reside abroad with the cited persons; persons accommodated in social welfare institutions; primary homeless persons (in shelters); persons who are in special psychiatric hospitals and accommodated in collective centres, drop-in centres and asylum centres.

Field data collection was extended up to 7 days in certain municipalities/cities. Telephone on-call duties were also organised in order to enable the citizens who were not enumerated for whatever reason to contact an enumerator or to be enumerated by telephone. Telephone enumeration lasted until 17 November 2022.

​To realise the Census about 14 000 enumerators, 2 200 instructors, 260 municipal coordinators and 20 regional coordinators were engaged.

​Field quality control of the data collected in the Census was performed from 2 to 11 December 2022 on a sample of 250 enumeration areas. There were engaged 250 enumerators, 39 instructors and 20 regional coordinators.

In order to reduce to the minimum extent data entry errors, criteria of logical control were incorporated in the data entry application (IST-CAPI) -  so-called weak criteria aiming at alerting the enumerator on illogicalities between the data entered, but still allowing data entry, and so-called strong criteria aiming at enabling further data entry until the error is corrected. Apart from this, during field data collection instructors and coordinators controlled the coverage and quality of the materials by using the monitoring application. The control of the materials was of special interest during the first days as it made possible to timely identify and remove potential systematic errors in enumerators‘ work.

The following data are coded in the scope of processing: ethnicity, religion, mother tongue, occupation and industry. Apart from this, contingent control is also implemented, implying the control of the data on age and sex, as well as the relationship with the head of household, ordinal number of the family, position of the member in the family, etc. Logical control is also performed in order to identify and correct inconsistencies in the responses to certain questions, and it is for this purpose that was defined the so-called automatic correction, i.e. a set of rules defined in advance, which is applied on census material.

In order to check the quality of data and coverage, control tables are produced. 2022 Census data are compared with 2011 Census results, then with the data of the vital statistics,  with the data from administrative sources, etc.  

The database obtained by direct enumeration was complemented with data from administrative records, primarily from the Central Population Register. As the Central Population Register contains data on the citizens of the Republic of Serbia, whether living in the country or abroad, information from other administrative records (records on employment, unemployment, pupils/students, retired persons, social welfare recipients, etc.) were used in order to identify as reliably as possible the persons who were not enumerated for whatever reason, but resided in the Republic of Serbia during the Census, and corresponding as such to the definition of usual population. In order to check so-called signs of life, data on a person were coupled with those from more administrative sources so that it could be concluded with more reliability that a given person really resided (worked, attended education, received social welfare relief, etc.) in the Republic of Serbia in the critical census moment.

IST-CAPI application, developed in the Office, was used for data entry.

In order to improve the coverage, the method of imputation from administrative sources of persons (3.2%) for whom it was found that they resided in the Republic of Serbia and were not enumerated for whatever reason during the 2022 Census was used.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.