Census of Population and Housing 2011

Population Census Division

Head of Population Census Division

5 Milana Rakića, Belgrade

+3810112401347

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Census of population, households and dwellings presents an organized collection of data on the population of a country and the main statistical source of individual statistical data. Besides, census is regarded as the main source of data for small geographical areas.

- The basic census units are persons, households and dwellings.

- 2011 Census of Population was conducted in the period from 1 to 15 October 2011, as a traditional census (‘door-to-door’ enumeration, when trained enumerators filled in the paper questionnaire forms).

- In the period from 16 to 18 October an additional enumeration was organized and provided for those citizens that were not enumerated for any reason; the enumeration was possible in the census commissions’  premises or in the field (on request by respondents, mobile teams visited them and carried out enumeration). In large/mayor cities (Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš and Kraguejvac), the census commissions and the mobile teams were on duty until 20 October.

-Post Enumeration Survey/PES was carried out in the period from 22 October to 5 November on a sample of 250 enumeration areas.

-For the purpose of the Census implementation engaged was more than 40 000 direct participants (enumerators, municipal and republic instructors, census commissions’ members, etc.)

-The main census forms (Questionnaire/enumeration form for persons and Questionnaire for households and dwellings) were translated into eight languages of ethnic minorities and English.        

-Working together with the Republic geodetic authority SORS produced and printed ortho-photo sketches of EAs and SAs that contained address data.

-For data entry applied was the system of optical character recognition (OCR).

- Pursuant to the law on 2011 Census, the preliminary data were released on 15 November 2011, which was a month after the Census implementation in field. Dissemination of the final results was resumed in successive stages starting from November 2012.

-2011 Census was not conducted in the territory of AP Kosovo and Metohija, while in the municipalities of Preševo and Bujanovac noted was undercoverage of the census units due to the boycott by the majority of the members of the Albanian ethnic community.  

​For coding and presenting the census data applied were two international classifications:

- International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-08), extended for certain occupations from the Single nomenclature of occupations;

- EU – NACE Rev. 2 Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community

- International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED-97)

http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-us/istrazivanja/klasifikacije/

Not applicable.

Usual residence

For the purpose of determining the total number of population of a given area, it was in 2011 Census that the concept of the “usual population” was used. According to this concept a person is considered to be a resident of the place in which he/she alone (in case of a one-person household) or with the members of his/her household spends most of the time, that is, the day/night rest, irrespective of where this person has his/her residence registered. Thus the total population of a certain place includes the persons who have resided in that place continuously for at least one year before the critical census moment, as well as the persons who have resided 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.

Persons who are enumerated but do not meet the criteria for usual residence in the place of enumeration, are considered temporarily present and are therefore not counted in the total usually resident population.

Some categories of population have a specific treatment, which to an extent deviates from listed rule, as follows:

- Persons who work in another place in the country or abroad are included in the total population of the place of the usual residence of their households if they return to that place at least once a week.

- Primary school pupils and secondary school students who do their schooling in another place in the Republic of Serbia or abroad, as well as the third level students who study in another place in the Republic of Serbia, 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 households if they return to that place at least once a week.

-Foreign third level students who study in our country are included in the total population of the place in which they are enumerated if they do not return to their homeland every week.

-The 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 when they spend equal amounts of 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 a permanent or temporary address are included in the total population of the place in which they were enumerated.

The refugees from the former Republics of the SFRY and the internally displaced persons from the AP Kosovo and Metohija are included in the total population, in compliance with the same rules.

Demographic characteristics

Sex – core topic

Sex refers to a person’s biological status and is categorized as male and female.

Age – core topic

 Age is shown in completed years of age.

Marital status – core topic

Marital status refers to the lega i.e. de jure status. Answers to this question were provided by all the respondents, including those who live in consensual unions. According to marital status, persons are classified into following groups:

Never married (i.e. single) - person who had never gotten married.

Married – person who has gotten married in accordance to legal regulations.

Divorced - person whose marriage has been divorced by a final judgment the competent court.

Widowed - 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 unions) – non-core topic

Two persons are taken to be partners in a consensual union when they have usual residence in the same household, are not legally married to each other. The response to this question was provided by all the persons regardless of their legal marital status, except for the person for whom the modality “Married (live together)“ was marked for the question on legal marital status.

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

The number of live-born children – non-core topic

Children who were not alive at the time of the critical census moment were also included, while any stillborn children, adopted children, as well as children from the previous marriage of the spouse/partner were not included.

Answer on question was written only for female person.

Year of birth of live-born children - topic is not included in international recommendations

Collected is the year of birth for the first, second, third child born by mother; for women giving birth to more than three live-born children entered is also the year of birth for the youngest live-born child.  The year of birth was written down also for the children who were not alive at the critical census moment.

Answer on question was written only for female person

Migration

Place of birth – core topic

The place of permanent residence of the mother at the time when person was born considers as the place of birth (place where the birth was occurred).

If the person was born in the Republic of Serbia, or if the mother’s place of permanent residence at the time of person’s birth is in the Republic of Serbia, data were collected for settlement and municipality (name of the settlement and municipality in accordance with the territorial organization at the census time). If a person was born abroad or the mother’s place of permanent residence at that time was abroad, the data were collected only on the name of the country in which the place is located. Information on the country of birth is based on the international boundaries existing at the time of census.  

Country of citizenship – core topic

Citizenship represents a special legal relationship between the state and individuals realized by birth, origin, reception, or on the basis of a ratified international contract.

Ever resided abroad and year of arrival in the country – core topic

All persons that arrived from other countries (including the former SFRY republics), returnees after temporary working/residing abroad, as well as all persons born in some of the former SFRY republics that moved to Serbia before the SFRY breakup, or persons that due to the outbreak of war were forced to move to Serbia as refugees, were considered to have resided abroad. For children less than one year old, the reply to this question was not entered.      

For all persons that ever resided outside the Republic of Serbia for an uninterrupted period of one year and more, collected were the data on the year of their arrival/coming back in the country. The year of arrival/coming back in the country relates to the calendar year when a person settled down in the country.   

If before the critical census moment a person resided abroad for several times, the question shall be replied as regards the last period of residing abroad (longer than one year).    

Country of previous usual residence abroad – non-core topic

For persons who have ever resided outside the Republic of Serbia continuously for at least a year, the data on the country of previous usual residence abroad were collected. Information on the country of arrival is based on the international boundaries existing at the time of the census.  

For the purpose of international comparability, the classification issued by the UN Statistical Division (Standard Country or Area Codes for Statistical Use, ST/ESA/STAT/SER.M/49/Rev.4/ was used.

Reason for arrival/return (migration) – non-core topic

For persons who have ever resided outside the Republic of Serbia continuously for at least a year, the data on reasons for arrival/return were collected.

Previous place of usual residence and date of arrival in current place - core topic

This question shall be replied as regards the last moving. If a person arrived from another place of the Republic of Serbia, entered is the name of settlement or municipality the person arrived/moved form (name of settlement and municipality in accordance with the territorial organization in the time of the census), while for the persons arriving/coming from abroad entered is the name of the country (Information on the country of arrival is based on the international boundaries existing at the time of census). Exceptionally, for internally displaced persons from the territory of AP Kosovo and Metohija (after 24 March 1999) entered is the name of settlement and municipality in the territory of AP Kosovo and Metohija where they were displaced form, even though they on several occasions changed the place of residence after having been displaced by force.

In addition, for persons that arrived entered was the date of arrival (calendar year and month) in the current place of (usual) residence (calendar year and month). For displaced persons entered was the date when they were displaced from the settlement in the territory of AP Kosovo and Metohija where they have resided before 24 March 1999.     

For persons that as school pupils, students, workers, etc. temporarily resided in a settlement, and then permanently settled down there, entered was the date when they settled down in this settlement. 

Autochhonous and migrant population

Autochthonous population assumes the persons that continually from their birth reside in the same settlement, i.e. the persons that have never moved. The population that moved from the settlement of residence moved from another settlement in the Republic of Serbia or from abroad are considered to be immigrated population

Daily migrants are the persons that work or attend school out of the place of their usual residence, but return there on daily basis or several times a week. A person is considered to come back their usual/permanent residence also in cases when absent due to the nature of their job, i.e. due to 24-hour or even 48-hour shifts (e.g. transport, health or some other services).  

Ethno-cultural characteristics

The questions on ethno-cultural characteristics – ethnicity, mother tongue, religion are non-core topics. They are formulated as open-type 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 religion (article 43) or their ethnicity (article 47).

The answer as to the religion is the result of individual’s conviction based on her/his comprehension of religion, thus what mattered was the identification with the religion, but not the membership of a religion.

Mother tongue is the language first 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.

The answer as to the religion is the result of individual’s conviction based on her/his comprehension of religion, thus what mattered was the identification with the religion, but not the membership of a religion.

Educational characteristics

Educational attainment – core topic

The highest school completed is defined as the school that a person completed gaining the highest level of education. The question about educational attainment related exclusively to education provided within the official educational system, meaning that education received in scope of non-standardized programs, i.e. informal education was not considered as an appropriate answer.

In case the person completed secondary, high, higher school, faculty or academy,  it was also necessary to write the type of completed school. Coding type of school completed was performed during the processing of census materials, according to Systematic list of completed schools, created for the needs of data processing in 2011 Census, harmonized with the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED 97).

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

Educational qualifications – non-core topic

The data on educational attainment were collected only for persons with tertiary education. 

School attendance – non-core topic

Data were collected for all persons attending school, either as regular or extramural students (including here children in preschool preparatory programme), regardless they studying in the Republic of Serbia or abroad. 

If a person is temporarily stopped going to school because of illness, imprisonment, voluntary military service, etc., data refers to the level of school that  he/she attended in the moment of interruption, or, if after the enrolment temporarily interrupted schooling, the level of school he enrolled.

Literacy – non-core topic

Literate persons comprise pupils of elementary schools and upper elementary schools, persons not attending school but having more than three grades of elementary school, as well as persons without school but with 1-3 grades of elementary school who claim being able to read and write a text related to everyday life, irrespective of the language and alphabet.

Data on population literacy are shown only for the population aged 10 or over.  

Computer literacy – non-core topic

A person is assumed to be computer literate if has knowledge and skills to do four basic computer-based operations, i.e. text processing, table design, email and the internet use. A person is considered to be partly computer literate if skilled in one, two, or three of the mentioned operations, however not all four of them. Computer illiterate persons cannot perform any of the mentioned operations.

The data were collected for persons aged 10 and over, while in tables the data were presented for persons aged 15 and over. 

Economic characteristics

Current activity status - core topics

The 2011 Census applied the concept of the so-called current activity, i.e. “the labour force”. Аll the data on the economic characteristics of the population are derived on the basis of the responses regarding the activities in the week prior to the Census (from 24th to 30^th September, 2011).

The category of economically active persons (“labour force”) comprises

-persons who perform occupation and

-the unemployed persons.

The contingent of persons who perform occupation consists of:

- the persons who, in the week prior to the Census, have performed any kind of paid job for at least an hour (in money or in kind), independently from whether the person has a formal and legal employment contract, only a verbal agreement with the employer or has an own-account job, including unpaid workers in a workshop run by a family/household member or on a family holding;   

- the persons who have a job, but from objective reasons were prevented from performing it during the reference week owing to an illness, vacation, strike, etc.

The unemployed are those persons who have not worked in the reference week, who are actively seeking for a job (through the employment service or on their own) and who could start working in the two subsequent weeks in relation to the “critical census moment.” The unemployed persons were classified into the persons who used to work and the persons seeking for their first employment.

Economically inactive persons are persons:

-who did not work and did not seek for a job in the week preceding the Census, and who were not in a position to start working within two weeks if offered a job

- children younger than 15 years,

-pensioners,

-persons with income from property,

-pupils/students – aged 15 and over,

-homemakers and

-other (persons who could not be classified into any of the previous categories of economically inactive, for example, children older than 14 years who are not attending school and not seeking for work, persons unable to work, persons who were serving a prison sentence or were detained during the reference period, etc.).

The data were collected for the persons aged 15 years and over. The maximum age limit was not defined taking into account the fact that persons may be economically active even after departing the so-called labour contingent (15–64 years of age).

Occupation – core topic

The question on occupation referred to the type of work the person performed in the week prior to the census. If a person was absent from work in the week prior to the census, the data on the occupation the person usually performs was written down. For the person who did several jobs in the reference week, the occupation where that person spent the biggest share of the work time or where he earned the biggest income was written down.

Exceptions were the unemployed persons that “used to work.” For these persons it was necessary to write down precise name of the occupation they performed at their last paid job.

In presenting of the data on occupation the internal Classification of Occupations, that used International Standard Classification of Occupation (ISCO/08) as base was applied. The economically active population who perform occupation are classified by occupation into 10 basic groups of occupation and category “unknown occupation”.

The data on occupation were collected for all economically active persons aged 15 and over who perform occupation, as well as for unemployed persons who used to work. The maximum age limit was not defined due to the fact that persons may be economically active even after exiting the work contingent (15-64 years of age).

Industry – core topic

The industry represents type of production or activity carried out by the company, shop, institution, cooperative, private shop (crafts, trade, catering, etc.) at which the person works.

In the case of the persons working at their own or somebody else’s agricultural farm, the activity that is predominantly carried out at the farm was written down.

For unemployed persons who used to work, the industry at their last paid job was written down, but not the industry code. In order to get as precise data regarding the industry as possible, the full name of the company, shop, institution, etc., where the person works was written down.

The response regarding the name of the company, shop, institution, etc., was not written down for the persons who carry out their activity on their own or somebody else’s agricultural farm, who independently perform occupation

The data by industry were presented in compliance with the Regulation on the classification of industry from 2010 that is fully comparable with the International classification of economic activities NACE Rev.2. persons are classified by industry into 21 industry sections of the NACE Rev. 2 and the category “unknown industry.”

The data on the industry were collected for active persons aged 15 and over who perform occupation. The upper age limit is not defined, since persons can be economically active even after exiting the so-called work contingent (15-64 years of age). leave, strike or interruption of production.

Status in employment – core topic

Refers to the explicit or implicit contract of employment with other persons or organizations for whose account the job is carried out. In case when a person during the week preceding the Census performed several occupations, the employment status for this person was defined based on the occupation declared under the respective question on occupation.

For person who is not employed, but once used to be employed, marked was the respective.

Employed person - person who work on the basis of valid legal contract of employment signed with employer) of any ownership type and are remunerated in money or in kind (accommodation, food, schooling, etc.), regardless whether his/her job is permanent or temporary employment, or it is based on contract on deed or casual job, and disregarding how the employing enterprise, shop, cooperative or institution is organized.

Employer -  person that works in his/her own company/enterprise, institution or shop as owner or co-owner and apart from being self-employed they; employs minimum another one, or several more persons.

Own-account worker - person who runs business for his/her own account and does not employ other persons, meaning here also person who performs occupation.

Individual farmer presents data for persons who perform occupation in agriculture at their own or other family agricultural holding and do not employ other persons.

Contributing (unpaid) worker in shop of family household member – the member of family household (spouse, child, parent) who works at shop of a household member without remuneration.

Contributing (unpaid) worker at family agricultural holding – person who renders assistance to a household member in running agricultural holding without remuneration.

Working on basis of contract, authorial agreement on mediation and representation, etc. - person working pursuant to deed contract, intermediation and agency agreement and other contracts and receive the agreed remuneration as the only source of income.

Cooperative members – person who does business on principles of cooperatives.

Other - person that could not be elsewhere categorized, e.g. person who works for his/her own account, i.e. find job, execute agreement and conduct works on their own, as well as all other person who on the basis of his/her works acquire income or other receipts for which respective taxes and contributions are not paid (for example, work of cleaning assistants, teaching lessons, street sales and other activities not registered). Here included is person who does work for employers, however without executing formal contracts.

Place of work – non-core topic

The reply to this question was provided only for employed persons, i.e. the persons that worked some job in the week preceding the census, as well as for the persons that did not work, but had a job to come back to and resume doing.

For the question on place of work collected are data specifying if person works at home, at agricultural holding, outside home, at permanent address, abroad, or has no permanent place of work.

At home – data refers to the person who works at home but does not have registered company/shop at the home address.

Person is considered to work outside home, at permanent address if do some job in the premises of a company, shop, institution, cooperative of other organization (office, surgery, (beauty) parlour, store, rented market stand, etc.), then if a person is working in the field but the instructions concerning the job and its organization receives in the place where the head office of the company/enterprise is seated and where the person practice the rights that he/she is entitled to. In addition, a person is considered to work outside home, at permanent address if the subject company/shop is registered at the address where the person resides (home address).

On agricultural holding – presented are data for persons working on agricultural holding, regardless whether working on their own or on other person’s holding, including supporting (unpaid) family workers.

Without permanent place of work – presented are data for persons without the permanent “place of work” (e.g. street tradesman, cleaning person at households, etc.), as well as data for hired construction workers that are not employed in a company, but are independent in finding and carrying out work in field.

Sources of livelihood in the year prior to the Census – non-core topic

The data on sources of livelihood are collected for all persons, disregarding whether they are employed or not. If a person had several different sources of livelihood (whether permanent or temporary), the data were collected so to include all sources. In that case the person also gave an answer on the main source of livelihood, i.e., on the source that was highest or most regular over the course of the observed year.

The data on the main source of livelihood are presented.

Sources of income of household – derived non-core topic

The sources of income have been derived during the processing of the data on the basis of the responses to the question on the sources of livelihood in the last year for each household member.

For the persons whose main source of livelihood is salary or other income on the basis of work, as an additional criterion applicable was the information on whether the person practices agricultural or non-agricultural activity.

Geographic characteristics

Location of place of work – core topic

Place of work refers to precise location in which person performs his/her job (settlement/municipality/street/house number).

Location of school attending – non-core topic

Precise location (settlement/municipality/foreign country) of school, faculty, academy in which persons attend school.

Mode of transport to work – non-core topic

Mode of transport to work refers to transport means that person usually uses to commute to work  i.e. transport means that are daily used to pass the longest distance (going on foot included). In reply to this question maximum two codes may be marked.

The sum of modalities is not equal to Total, since a person could opt for more than one, and maximum two replies on the question regarding mode of transport to work, in which case was noted in two columns.

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

The sociological approach was applied, according to which a person may consider that, despite certain health issues, he/she has no problems in accomplishing out daily activities at home/school/work, thanks to the support of the surroundings, use of the relevant aids, etc.

When creating the tables, three contingents were defined: population with disability, population without disability and persons whose status as regards disability is not known on the basis of their reply to the question whether, and to what extent, they have difficulties in their everyday routine activities at home, at school or at work due problems with sight, hearing, walking, memory / concentration, independence in dressing / taking food / maintaining personal hygiene, or communication.

Population with disability - persons for whom the modality “(yes), a lot of difficulty” or “(yes) completely prevented” was marked as the response to the question on at least one problem.

Population without disability - population for whom the responses “no” or “(yes) has some difficulties” were marked for the questions on all stated problems.

Not stated - persons who did not want to respond to the questions on functioning and social integration or the enumerator did not mark any of the provided responses.

In accordance with the recommendations of the Washington group on disability statistics, the following definitions were applicable:

It is considered that a person has sight impairment if not able to see the objects in the immediate vicinity or at certain distance, even if provided with eyeglasses or contact lenses.

Hearing impairment (even if a person is a hearing aid wearer) means that a person is not able to recognize sounds from various sources, can hear by one ear only, or if the hearing impairment is severe or full.

A person has problem with walking or climbing the stairs is moving with difficulty on flat surface or up the stairs, or indoors or outdoors, or if unable to move without the help of other person or some aid.

If a person cannot concentrate to read or write certain text, or tends to forget the basic information (e.g. date of birth, etc.), this person is considered to have problem with concentration, i.e. remembering. This category does not include persons that due to the burden of current duties, stress or the use of medicaments have problems with remembering or concentration.

Persons that are not able to dress themselves, take food, and maintain personal hygiene, i.e. if incapable to do these activities without the help of other person, fall to the category of persons that have problem with independence in dressing/taking food /maintaining personal hygiene.

Persons have problem with communication (speech, mutual understanding) if because of the partly or permanently defected speech apparatus, stroke, or some other condition have problems to speak/articulate words, which impede or fully obstruct the exchange of information with other people.

Within the modalities – sight, hearing, walking, remembering/concentration, independence, communication, expressed is the total number of persons for whom as the reply to the question on certain problem marked was the modality “(yes) have considerable difficulties” or “(yes) fully impaired”. The sum of the mentioned modalities does not provide the total number of persons with disability, since one person could reply to have considerable difficulties or that is fully impaired for several different problems.

Households and families

Household is one of basic census unit.

The housekeeping concept is accepted where a household shall be any family or other community of individuals who live together and jointly spend their income for covering basic life necessities (housing, food, etc.). A household may also be

-  a one-person household (when a person lives alone in a dwelling or in a part of a dwelling and autonomously covers his/her own needs and who is not a member of a household in some other place) and

- a multi-person household (when several persons, either related or not, join together in sharing the costs of housing and food). In this, one or several households may live in a dwelling.

Collective or institutional households comprise persons whose needs (housing/care/support, etc.) are covered by certain institutions. These households most frequently live in facilities for collective housing in which some rooms are used jointly (institutions for permanent placement of children and adults, monasteries or other religious institutions, hospitals for the placement of terminally-ill patients, etc.). As a matter of exception, members of collective households may also live in conventional dwellings (e.g., „safe houses“).

Homeless  are persons without permanent or temporary place of residence. Primary homeless are persons who live on street (roofless), ie. without a shelter that would fall within the scope of living quarters. Secondary  homeless are persons who live in premises occupied from necessity, such as sheds, wooden huts, trailers, wagons, cellars, tents, barges, i.e. settlements made of weak material and with unhygienic conditions

Homeless are included in the total population of the place in which they were enumerated.

Family is a derived cenus unit consisting of a marital or consensual couple, or parents (both or one) and their children. Child (son/daughter) refers to a blood, step- or adopted son or daughter. Thereby, a child is any person, regardless of the age and marital status, who lives in a household with one or with both parents and does not have a marital/consensual partner or his/her own child in that household.

Data are presernted for following types of families:

- marital couple without children

- consensual couple without children

- marital couple with children

- consensual couple with children

- mother with children

- father with children.

According to the family composition, can be distinguished the following:

- non-family households

- family households

Non-family households are multi-member households that do not contain families (eg. household that consists of brother and sister) as well as one-person households.

Family households are those  households that contain at least one family. In addition to family members, these households may incorporate other members that do not belong to the family.

According to the number of families in the composition of family households, there may be family households with one, two or more families.

One-family households are those households that contain only one family irrespective of whether the household also contains other members that do not belong to the family.

The households with two or more families are those that contain two or more families with whom in the same household can live other relatives or non-relatives that are not members of any family.

A reference person could be any adult member of the household regardless of sex. A person who is absent from the place of enumeration at the time of the census because he/she was staying abroad for a year or more, should not be the person to whom the household is headed.

Dwellings

Type of  dwelling units – core topic

Dwelling is an interconnected construction whole intended for habitation which consists of one or several rooms with or without appropriate auxiliary premises (kitchen, storeroom, hallway, bathroom, toilet, etc.) and which has one or more separate entrances.

The occupied dwellings included dwellings which were at the time of the census used as the dwellings for permanent habitation of at least one person.

A dwelling which at the time of the census was vacant because it was new and without dwellers, or had been vacated because of moving, adaptation, repairs, etc., and an empty dwelling whose owner lived in another dwelling or some other place without using or renting the dwelling were enumerated as temporarily unoccupied dwellings.

A dwelling not used for a longer period of time because it was abandoned, either on account of the owner moving out without renting the dwelling or the owner had died and the inheritors had not rented  the dwelling or were not using it for a long time was enumerated as the abandoned dwelling.

The dwellings used occasionally comprise the dwellings used for vacation and recreation and the dwellings used during seasonal works in agriculture.

The dwellings solely used for performing work activities comprise the dwellings which have not been turned (adapted) in construction terms into business premises and which are vacant, but are used as a whole for performing some work activities.

The premises built for business purposes and not turned (adapted) into a dwelling, but used for permanent habitation during the census, were enumerated as occupied business premises (e.g., a shop, office, hotel room, etc.)

The premises which in construction terms are neither dwellings nor business premises, but were used at the time of the census for permanent habitation, were enumerated as premises occupied from necessity (e.g., train-wagon, barge, tent, trailer, etc.).

Collective housing unit includes a cluster of premises intended for joint habitation of several persons and used at the time of the census for the permanent habitation of at least one person (hotels, institutions and semi-permanent or temporary buildings).

 Useful floor space and number of rooms – core topic

Useful floor space is the floor space measured inside the outer walls and presents sum of the floor spaces of all rooms, kitchen, bathroom, toilet, hallway and other auxiliary premises within the dwelling, including the floor space of loggias, balconies and terraces.

A “room” is space in a housing unit enclosed by walls reaching from the floor to the ceiling or roof covering, at least to a height of 2 meter above the ground, of a size large enough to hold a bed for an adult (4 square meter at least).

Occupancy status of conventional dwellings – core topic

Occupancy status refers to whether or not a conventional dwelling is occupied by a usual resident at the time of the census.

Number of occupants – core topic

the number of occupants in a dwelling includes all the persons who spend the largest part of their time, that is, the day/night rest, in that dwelling, as well as persons who were at the critical census moment temporarily (for a shorter period of time) absent from the place of usual residence due to schooling, work, vacation, business trip, medical treatment, etc.

Density standard – изведено основно обележје

Useful floor space per occupant. Useful floor space in square meter divided by the number of occupants in a housing unit. number of rooms per occupant number of rooms divided by the number of occupants in a housing unit.

Type of ownership - core topic

Type of ownership  can be: one person private ownership, two or more persons private ownership (coownership of two or more physical persons), public (state) ownership (dwelling owned by the stated, autonomous province or local self-government unit) and other types of ownership (dwelling owned by a cooperative or a dwelling that cannot be classified into afore-stated forms of ownership).

Tenure status of households -  core topic

tenure status refers to the legal arrangements under which a private household occupies all or part of a housing unit. tenure status of households can be: ownership (when one of the household members living in that dwelling is the owner of the entire dwelling or one of its parts;  rent  (when the household uses the dwelling for an indefinite period of time on the basis of a lease contract; subtenant (when the household uses the entire dwelling or a part of the dwelling for a definite period of time, under a written contract or verbal agreement with the owner or the lessee of the dwelling; kinship (when the household lives in a dwelling of another household with the owner or lessee of which is related (lives with parents, children, grandparents or relatives); other  (for each collective household, as well as for one-person or family household which permanently occupies some collective housing unit.

Water supply system – core topic

Dwelling has water supply system if at least one of the rooms has built-in waterworks installations, regardless of whether they are connected to the public water system, local or rural water supply system, pneumatic pump station and similar special pumps or are not connected at all.

Toilet facilities – core topic

Dwelling has toilet if it situated in a separate room of the dwelling or in the bathroom. The toilet may be with flushing or without flushing. A toilet with flushing is a toilet in which there is a cistern under pressure connected to the water supply systems installations.

Bathing facilities – core topic

Dwelling has bathroom if there is a separate room in the dwelling with a bathtub or a shower where water supply systems and sewerage installations have been installed, regardless of whether these installations are connected to the public or the house network or not.

Type of sewage disposal system -  non-core topic

Dwelling has sewage disposal if in any of the rooms of the dwelling there are sewerage installations, regardless of whether they are connected to the public sewerage, septic tank, river, o

Kitchen - non-core topic

Dwelling has kitchen if there is a room which was intended as a kitchen during the construction of the dwelling or with a later reworking (adaptation). A kitchen is also a kitchenette, as well as a kitchen which is separated from the dwelling in construction terms, if the household uses it throughout the year as a part of the dwelling.

Type of heating - core topic

Dwelling has district/central heating installations if these installations are installed in at least one room of the dwelling, regardless of whether the heat is delivered from the public (local) district heating plant, or the rooms in the dwelling are heated with the heat delivered from the joint boiler-room (in the building or the dwelling).

Main type of energy used for heating – non-core topic

Energy products used for heating of occupied conventional dwellings and of other housing units were classified into six categories  were classified into six categories:  coal (stone, brown lignite, dried lignite briquettes or coal and lignite), wood and other renewable wood-based products (and other solid fuels except coal), fuel oil or heating oil, natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas (propane, butane and mixtures of propane and butane), electricity, and other types of energy (solar, geothermal, wind, etc.).

Elektricity - non-core topic

Dwelling has electric energy installations if in the dwelling or at least in one of the rooms of the dwelling there are electric energy installations, regardless of whether they are connected to the public network or not.

Piped gas - non-core topic

Dwelling has piped gas only if the gas is delivered by the network.

Position of dwelling in the building - non-core topic

dwelling may be located on the ground floor (first level in a building above the cellar and basement or above the ground level, if the building does not have a cellar, which contains built residential or business premises), in the cellar (the base of which is below the surface of the earth at the depth more than 1 m), in the basement (the base of which is below the surface of the earth at the depth of less than 1 m), atic (premises that are built within the roof construction of the building) or on some of the floors in the building (first, second ..).

Type of building -  core topic

Buildings are durable edifices with a roof and outer walls, built as independent usable wholes that provide protection against weather and other external factors, and are intended for residential purposes, performing some activity or for placement and keeping animals, goods, equipment for various manufacturing and service activities, etc. Dwellings according to the type of building in which they are located, by classifying them into five categories: dwellings in residential buildings with one dwelling, dwellings in residential buildings with two dwellings, dwellings in residential buildings with three and more dwellings, dwellings in other residential buildings (e.g., dwelling in a collective housing unit), and dwellings in non-residential buildings

Dwellings by period of construction -  core topic

Dwellings are classified into several groups, in line with the intervals proposed in the international recommendations.

Material of the building’s outer walls -  core topic

Buildings made of hard material are the buildings whose outer walls are built solely or predominantly of brick, hollow clay block, gas concrete, stone, concrete, timber, and other contemporary construction materials and elements.

Buildings made of weak material are the buildings whose outer walls are built solely or predominantly of soil cement, adobe, wattle dam, boards, etc., for the premises occupied from necessity (shed, wooden hut, container, sodhouse and other improvised buildings), as well as for others mobile and immobile buildings (wagon, trailer, caravan, tent, gypsy tent, etc.)

Data on persons, households (private and institutional) and dwellings are collected by the Census, while data on families and buildings are derived in the course of data processing.

By the Census the data are compiled for all persons (including persons that are temporary present аnd absent) while in the course of data processing derived is the contingent of usual population.     

Data are available at different levels: national, regions, municipality (LAU 2) and settlements (LAU 3)

The data were presented in compliance with the national Nomenclature of statistical territorial units – NSTJ (NUTS) (Official Gazette of the RS, No 109/09 and 46/10), which defines the statistical functional territorial units, i.e., 3 hierarchical levels: NUTS 1 (Serbia - sever and Serbia - jug), NUTS 2 (regions) and NUTS 3 (areas). http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-us/istrazivanja/klasifikacije/

The data on the level of municipality/town are expressed in accordance with the Law on territorial organization of the Republic of Serbia that was passed in 2008.  

In order to present data by type of settlement, we applied so-called administrative-legal criteria, according to which settlements are divided into "urban" (those that have obtained this status through a legal act of the respective local self-government body) and into "other".

The 2011 Census was not conducted on the territory of the Kosovo and Metohija. In the municipalities of Preševo and Bujanovac there was undercoverage of the census units due to the boycott by the majority of the members of the Albanian ethnic community. 

The data are presented according to the state at the critical census moment (see item 5).

Not applicable.

Counts of statistical units

Data are presented according to its state as of 30 September 2011, at 24:00 (critical census moment).

2011 Census on population, households and dwellings was conducted based on:

- Official Statistics Law (Official Gazette of RS, No 104/09 and No 24/11); http://www.stat.gov.rs/media/2322/zakon_o_statisticie.pdf

- Law on the Census of Population, Households and Dwellings, 2011 (Official Gazette of RS, No 104/09); 

- Law on changes to the law on census of population, households and dwellings (Official Gazette of RS, No 24/11);

- Decision on the Programme of official statistics over the period 2011 – 2015;

​- Decision on the Plan of official statistics for 2011.

​http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-US/o-nama/dokumenti

Not applicable.

Data confidentiality is regulated by:

- Official Statistics Law  (Official Gazette of  RS, No 104/09 and No 24/11) http://www.stat.gov.rs/media/2322/zakon_o_statisticie.pdf

  - Law on 2011 Census of Population, Households and Dwellings (Official Gazette of RS, No  104/09 and No 24/11)

  - Rulebook on statistical data protection in the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia

http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-US/o-nama/dokumenti

- In the course of preparing and implementing the Census, and also during the post-census activities a special care was dedicated to the protection of data. The census data are protected from unauthorized access, use, as well as from loss, destruction or illegal amending.

- Pursuant to the Law on 2011 Census of Population, Housing and Dwellings (Official Gazette of RS, No 104/09 and No 24/11) and Official Statistics Law (Official Gazette of RS, No 104/09 and No 24/11), all data collected through the Census shall be used for statistical purposes only and published as aggregated data, which is envisaged to ensure the protection of personal data of enumerated persons. Also, according to the Law on the Census (Article 26), the enumerators, instructors and other direct participants implementing the Census are obligated to keep as official secret all data collected from enumerated persons. The Law envisages penalty provisions in cases when direct participants implementing the Census break the provision of confidentiality (Article 31).  

http://www.stat.gov.rs/media/2322/zakon_o_statisticie.pdf

http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-US/o-nama/dokumenti

- The Decision on dissemination of sensitive data of 2011 Census of Population, Housing and Dwellings (SORS, 2014) stipulates that the data on ethnical and religious affiliation, mother tongue and disability of enumerated persons are regarded as sensitive data. In accordance with the Decision, in order to prevent the disclosure of individual data, i.e. the possibility of direct or indirect individual identification of persons, sensitive data are published exclusively to the level of municipality/town/city, while in document tables hidden are cells containing values less than three (3), as well as the sums on higher aggregation levels on the basis of which it is possible to calculate the hidden data. 

- In compliance with the Rulebook on the method of using and providing the data produced by SORS (SORS, 2017), the Statistical Office shall ensure the access to individual data without identifiers (anonymized data). http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-US/o-nama/dokumenti

The Calendar provides the review of all statistical releases and publications with precisely stated title, referent period and date of publishing.

In case it is necessary to postpone the data publishing due to sudden occasions (e.g. technical reasons), the new date of publishing, with the stated reason, is to be provided in scope of the Calendar. 

http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-US/calendar

The calendar is accessible to public before the beginning of the calendar year, referring to the following year.

  http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-US/calendar

-Dissemination of statistical data is carring out in accordance to Publishing policy (SORS, September 2016). http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-us/o-nama/dokumenti/  and Dissemination policy (SORS, July 2017) http://www.stat.gov.rs/media/2331/dissemination-policy.pdf

- Census data are available for users: 

  • on the SORS website (Census books and other publications in .pdf format, Excel tables, Dissemination database with metadata and Dashboards),

  • android application,

  • paper publications in SORS library (census books and special publications)

- Access to statistical information is guaranteed to all users simultaneously.

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

- Custom-designed analyses are carried out in accordance with the Rules of price policy at the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (SORS, 2011)  and the Price list of specific services provided by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia  http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-US/o-nama/dokumenti

- In compliance with the the Rulebook on the method of using and providing the data produced by SORS (SORS, 2017), the Statistical Office shall ensure the access to individual data without identifiers (anonymized data).  http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-US/o-nama/dokumenti

The data of population and housing censuses are disseminated every ten years.

Apart from the Census books and the special publications, the press releases were also provided so to include brief description of the census results, including analytical and methodological notes. 

http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-us/oblasti/popis/popis-2011/

Pursuant to the Law on 2011 Census, the preliminary results were released on 15 November 2011, a month after the accomplished Census fieldwork operations.

The final results of the Census were published within 30 census books: 21 books providing data on population, households and families, seven books with data on housing units and two books with the results of the Post Enumeration Survey.

In addition, 16 specail publications were released. These publications came as a result of cooperation with eminent experts from various domains.

http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-US/oblasti/popis/popis-2011

Census books – list

Population, households and families

• Book 1 : Ethnicity
• Book 2 : Аge and sex
• Book 3: Educational Attainment, Literacy and Computer Literacy
• Book 4 : Religion, mother tongue and ethnicity
• Book 5: Marital Status
• Book 6: Fertility of the female population
• Book 7: Economic Activity
• Book 8: Population with disabilities
• Book 9: Migrations
• Book 10: Households according to the number of members
• Book 11: Daily migrants
• Book 12: Families
• Book 13: Basic characteristics of the households
• Book 14: Occupations
• Book 15: Industry
• Book 16: Sources of Livelihood
• Book 17: Families with children
• Book 18: Main population sets
• Book 19: Economically active population that perform occupation
• Book 20: Comparative Overview of the Number of Population by 1948, 1953, 1961, 1971, 1981, 1991, 2002 and 2011 Censuses
• Book 21: Comparative Overview of the Number of Households by 1948 – 2011 Censuses and Dwellings by 1971 – 2011 Censuses

• Housing units

• Book 22: Number and the Floor Space of Housing Units
• Book 23: Dwellings for permanent habitation according to the number of rooms and floor space
• Book 24: Installations in the dwellings
• Book 25: Dwellings according to the ownership and tenure status of the households
• Book 26: Housing units according to the number of occupants and households
• Book 27: Dwellings by type of building
• Book 30 : Dwellings by the type of energy raw material used for heating

Post Enumeration Survey/PES

• Book 28: Coverage error estimates
  Book 29 : Evaluation of the Content Error

Special publications - list

• Publication: The most frequent names and surnames (Serbian only)
• Publication: Census and Primary School Pupils
• Publication: Population projections of the Republic of Serbia 2011-2041.
• Publication: Complete life tables for the Republic of Serbia, 2010–2012
• Publication: Homeless persons
• Publication: 2011 Census Atlas
• Publication: Persons with disabilities in Serbia
• Publication: Serbian ethnical, confessional and linguistic mosaic (Serbian only)
• Publication: Roma people in Serbia (Serbian only)
• Publication: Serbian process of external migration (Serbian only)
• Publication: Two decaders of refugees in Serbia
• Publication: Population of Serbia at the beginning of the 21st century (Serbian only)
• Publication: Young people in Serbia at the beginning of the 21st century (Serbian only)
• Publication: Demographic profile of elderly population in Serbia (Serbian only)
• Publication: Analysis of the impact of damages from natural inclemencies on the Census results (Serbian only)
• Publication: Villages in Serbia (Serbian only)

The Census data are available in the dissemination database containing metadata at the SORS web site. Users are enabled to download generated reports in various formats. http://data.stat.gov.rs/?caller=3102&languageCode=en-US

- In compliance with the Rules on the manner and procedure of providing data produced by the  Statistical  Office of the Republic of Serbia (SORS, 2017) http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-us/o-nama/dokumenti/  the Statistical Office shall ensure the access to individual data without identifiers (anonymized data).    

  The request can be submitted by:

   • Accredited scientific and research organizations (institutes, faculties, universities and major research centers);

   • Researchers and PhD students;

   • Institutions conducting specific project financed by national or international research  programs.

   Data access can be enabled:

    • in safe room, in the SORS building, in accordance with the Instruction on the manner of using the safe room and
    • on removable media.

- All activities related to the use of anonymized microdata are defined by the Procedure of providing access to individual data without identifiers (anonymized microdata).

Detailed information are available at SORS website  http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-us/korisnicka-podrska/micropodaci/

Along with the census publications, the results of the Census are also made available within other publications released by the SORS: Statistical yearbook, Municipalities and regions, Statistical pocketbook, and other. http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-us/publikacije/

The Census forms and methodological material is offered at the SORS site as follows:

- Forms (Individual Questionnaire and Questionnaire for households and dwelling)

- Multilingual set of questionnaires;

- Methodological guidelines for organizers, instructors and other direct participants implementing  the  Census;

- Enumeration manual;

- Instructions for pre-enumeration of persons pursuant to Article 15, the Law on 2011 Census of Population, Households and Dwellings;

- Organizational and methodological guidelines for enumeration of persons pursuant to Article 13,  the Law on 2011 Census of Population, Households and Dwellings; 

-Organizational and methodological guidelines for enumeration of persons pursuant to Article 12,  the Law on 2011 Census of Population, Households and Dwellings; 

- Organizational and methodological guidelines for enumeration of primary homeless people.

 http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-us/istrazivanja/methodology-and-documents/?a=31&s=3102

- Results of the Post Enumeration Survey (PES) were published in two books:

• Book 28: Coverage error estimates
• Book 29: Evaluation of content error

http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-us/oblasti/popis/popis-2011/

 - An internal Study on the Census quality was produced  as a result of implementation of the quality management system in a census operation.

The Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, as the holder of the Serbian official statistics system, implements the system of quality management that ensures the systematic upgrading of the quality of statistical processes, final results, i.e. data, as well as of the services rendered to users. The SORS quality management system is relied on the mission and the vision of the Serbian official statistics, and also on the European Statistics Code of Practice – CoP and the principles of Total Quality Management – TQM, which create the common framework of quality for the European Statistical System (ESS). 

(Quality policy, SORS, 2017  http://www.stat.gov.rs/media/2334/quality-policy.pdf and Quality strategy, SORS, 2017 http://www.stat.gov.rs/media/2340/quality-strategy.pdf)

The frame for implementing quality management in the census operation is defined bu Recommendations for the 2010 Censuses of Population and Housing, and UNECE/Eurostat, Regulation (EC) No 763/2008 of the European Parliament.

Within the process of inception of the quality management system, created was the document Introducing the System of Quality Management for 2011 Census of Population, Housing and Dwellings (SORS, 2009).

As a tool for the census data quality evaluation, post enumeration survey (PES) in Serbia has been a part census’s activities ever since 1953.

PES 2011 has been conducted immediately after the main Census in the period form 22 October to the 5 November 2011, with the critical moment being the same as in the Census. It was designed in such a way to simulate a mini census in selected EAs and to be operationally independent of Census. Also it was assumed that the same general conditions as in Census were valid during the PES.

The PES was based on a stratified simple random sample of enumeration areas (250 EAs which represented about 0.5% of the total number of enumeration areas). The sample spread over 113 out of 168 municipalities and included approximately 20 000 households. For the needs of estimation of coverage errors, selected enumeration areas were enumerated completely; for the evaluation of content errors, a systematic random ten-percent sample of households from selected EAs was used.

After the completion of the data collection, in the period from 9 – 23 November, the comparison was done between the PES material and the Census material, while the data that were collected in the Census for the corresponding enumeration areas were copied into the PES questionnaires.

The estimates of coverage errors (undercoverage, over‐coverage and net under‐coverage) of persons, households and dwellings were calculated. Also, the bias and inconsistency of the answers to selected Census questions were evaluated.

PES results were published in two census books:

- Book 28: Evaluation of Coverage Error and  Book 29: Evaluation of Content Error http://popis2011.stat.rs/?page_id=2134&lang=en

When selecting the topics to be applicable for the 2011 Census, the starting point was to adopt as a prerequisite the set of core topics contained in the Conference of European Statisticians Recommendations for the 2010 Censuses of Population and Housing, as well as to recognize the necessity to include certain additional (non-core) topics that are of national importance, i.e. of importance for public policy makers and end users. In order to meet as much as possible the demands of the census data users, in the course of preliminary activities organized was a series of meetings with government bodies, institutes, the ombudsman, NGOs, councils of ethnic minorities, representatives of international organizations (UNDP, UNHCR, UNHABITAT, UNSD, etc).      

Since the needs of users are versatile and complex, it was necessary to make a careful selection of the topics, namely to find a fine balance between the desires of numerous users on one side, and the realistic possibilities as regards the Census implementation due to the limited number of questions in questionnaires, available funds, etc., on the other side.

Within the Census preparatory activities, two large meetings were organized: 

​- “2011 Census” – a symposium organized in 2008 with the aim to consider in details the international recommendations for the 2010 Censuses, as well as the needs of users of national importance. Another goal was get acquainted the representatives of government bodies, academic community and other users of statistical data with the contents of the forthcoming Census, and with the proposals of new solutions concerning the entry, processing and dissemination of census results.   

- “2011 Censuses in the Republic of Serbia” – a symposium organized in 2009 with the aim to review the adequacy of the methodological and organizational solutions applied for the 2009 Pilot Census of Population, Households and Dwellings, and to consider the possibility to make identification linking between the Census of Population and the Census of Agriculture. 

In 2010 the SORS started the general User Satisfaction Survey concerning statistical products and services with the aim to assess the importance and usability of the statistics that SORS produces. User Satisfaction Survey was conducted in 2013, 2015 and 2017.  

Results are available at the SORS site. http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-US/o-nama/sistem-upravljanja-kvalitetom

The methodological framework for 2011 Census was fully aligned with the international standards (Conference of European Statisticians Recommendations for the 2010 Censuses of Population and Housing, Regulation (EC) No 763/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council)

The contents of 2011 Census included all core topics defined by Recommendations as well as some non-core topics of national interest.

In a traditional census, as is the Serbian 2011 Census of Population, Households and Dwellings, errors (non-sampling) may occur in any phase of the work, from the preparation of the methodology, definitions and instruments, training of participants, implementation of the survey in the field, all the way through to the results processing and interpretation.

Census is conducted on the entire territory of the Republic of Serbia and it is necessary to enumerate all persons, households and dwellings with engagement of a large number of enumerators. That is why the errors that are made during fieldwork have the largest share in the total data errors - before and after the collection, during preparation, editing, tabulation and etc., errors are much easier controlled and corrected.

In order to evaluate errors that occurred in the course of data collection, PES was conducted. 

Not applicable.

Coverage errors and content errors in selected census questions, which occur during data collection in the field, were evaluated by the PES that was implemented.

Coverage errors occur as a consequence of omission of units by the census or multiple enumeration or erroneous inclusion of others.

Content errors are the errors in the recorded characteristics of the units in the census universe.

During collection of data, errors are made owing to unclear borders between enumeration areas, poor sketches, incomplete or imprecise methodological clarifications, insufficient training and negligence of the enumerator, refusal of the entire household or some members/persons to be enumerated, absence of households or persons during the census, deliberate omission of some persons, inability or unwillingness of a respondent to provide the correct answer, etc.

The results of the Post Enumeration Survey are published in the Census books:

Book 28: Evaluation of Coverage Error and  Book 29: Evaluation of Content Error http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-US/oblasti/popis

Pursuant to the Law on 2011 Census, the preliminary results were released on 15 November 2011, a month after the accomplished Census fieldwork operations.

The dissemination of the final results was carried out in successive stages starting from November 2012.  

Census books listed by the date of release

Special publications listed by the date of release

Pursuant to the Law on 2011 Census, the preliminary results were released on 15 November 2011, a month after the accomplished Census fieldwork operations.

The dissemination of the final results was carried out in successive stages starting from November 2012. The Census Books were published in compliance with the Publication calendar that was occasionally revised (November 2012 – April 2014).

The methodological framework for 2011 Census was fully aligned with the international standards (Conference of European Statisticians Recommendations for the 2010 Censuses of Population and Housing, Regulation (EC) No 763/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council).

All Census books include the basic methodological explanations and definitions related to the data published in the respective book. Also, the books include the historical development presented for certain topic with all changes of the methodological solutions introduced in the period between the censuses. 

Special care is required when analysing the changes of the number of population, since the definitions of the total population in the censuses after the WW2 varied.   

http://www.stat.gov.rs/en-US/oblasti/popis/popis-2011

The 2011 Census data may differ from those transmitted in other statistical domains due to the cross domain differences in definitions and methodologies used.  For additional information please see metadata specific to each domain.

The results of 2011 Census are fully internally consistent.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

2011 Census of Population was carried out as a traditional census (‘door-to-door’ enumeration, when trained enumerators filled in the paper questionnaire forms). Data were collected according to its state as of 30 September 2011, at 24:00 (critical census moment).

By the Census the data are compiled for all persons ( including also persons that are temporary present and absent), while in the course of data processing derived is the contingent of usual population.

These data are collected once in ten years basis. 

Pilot census

Taking into account the census complexity, it was felt necessary to test the methodological and organizational instruments by the way of a pilot census, in order to survey all aspects, starting from defining the questions, through the questionnaire design, the possibility to get the proper information, etc.

During 2009 two pilot censuses were implemented:

1. The first Pilot census (1 – 15 April 2009) through simulating all census activities was aimed  at testing the prepared methodological and organizational solutions for 2011 Census so that all  possible shortcomings could be eliminated in time, and so that statisticians and IT staff could be properly trained for all Census stages.

2. Pilot census “Roma  education” (1 – 15 November 2009) had the aim to promote the census importance and role, to strengthen the confidence between the Roma community and the official statistics, and also to educate a certain number of the Roma community members for conducting the Census activities.

Questionnaire contents and design

The final contents of the basic census forms were adopted after extended and complex preparatory activities, which included a series of meetings held with the representatives of the ministries, scientific institutions, NGOs, etc., in order to meet to the extent possible the requirements of the users.

For the data collection in field used were the following main census forms:

• Individual questionnaire (form P-1), used to collect the data on enumerated person;
• Questionnaire for household and dwelling (form P-2), which is used to collect the data on household members and temporary present persons in the dwelling, on household, dwelling, agricultural funds of the household and own-account agricultural production; and
• Control list (form P-3), by which recorded are all census units in the enumeration area (EA).

Since in 2011 Census for the first time we applied the software for optical character recognition, it was necessary that the Questionnaires P-1 and P-2 should be designed in compliance with the standards for optical character recognition.

When designing the questionnaire, the following standards were specially observed:

• Dimensions of boxes for entering textual and numeric replies (6 x 5 mm);
• Dimensions of boxes for marking replies (3 x 3 mm);
• Space between boxes (minimum 1 mm).   

In addition, the contents of the form envisaged to be (optically) recognized was printed in black, since black colour is the only colour that is “legible”, while the boxes and the form parts not envisaged to be recognized were printed in the colour that is not “legible”, so-called magenta.

The forms P-1 and P-2 were printed on the form A3, and the novelty here that concerns the design was that the forms P-1 and P-2 were perforated in the middle, which proved to be necessary in order to ensure that the lists could be safely separated during the manual material preparations.  

Selection and training of direct participants implementing the Census

The selection and training of direct participants implementing the Census was carried out in compliance with precisely defined procedures. The municipal instructors and enumerators were selected by the way of a public announcement, while for posts of republic instructors engaged were experienced instructors. The final selection of the municipal instructors and enumerators was carried out on the basis of the results of the test after the three-day training course.  

Pre-enumeration

The purpose of the pre-enumeration, i.e. the enumeration before 1 October 2011 was to collect the data for a certain number of persons that during the Census implementation would out of their usual place of residence, as well as to ensure better coverage of the census units and as much as possible precise data.

During the pre-enumeration, the data were collected for the following categories of population:

• the citizens of the Republic of Serbia that were assigned to work at the Serbian diplomatic and consular offices, United Nations offices, specialized agencies and other international organizations, as well as their households’ members residing abroad with them;
• the citizens of the Republic of Serbia in the representation offices of the chambers of commerce abroad, the parts of companies established abroad, the parts of banks established abroad and other persons working in the financial sector abroad, however only at the accredited Serbian diplomatic and consular offices and only if residing abroad with all their household members;
• military officers and civilians that during the 2011 Census implementation lived in military quarters, military schools and other military institutions, as well as the persons on military service;
• detainees that at the 2011 Census critical moment  (30 September 2011, 24.00) were found at the penal sanctions institutions/in detainment, as well as the persons that used these institutions as shelter;
• primary homeless people (persons without permanent or temporary place of residence living on street, under bridges, etc.). Primary homeless persons were enumerated at the institutions of social protection where they asked for shelter or some other kind of aid.                      

Field activities

2011 Census of population was carried out from 1 – 15 October 2011 as a traditional census (‘door-to-door’ enumeration when trained enumerators filled in the paper forms). For the for the Census fieldwork implementation, engaged was a number of 42 000 direct participants (enumerators, municipal and republic instructors, census commissions’ members, etc.). Data were collected according to its state as of 30 September 2011, at 24:00 (critical census moment). 

In the period from 16 to 18 October an additional enumeration was organized and provided for those citizens that were not enumerated for any reason; the enumeration was possible in the census commissions’  premises or in the field (on request by respondents, mobile teams visited them and carried out enumeration). In large/mayor cities (Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš and Kraguejvac), the census commissions and the mobile teams were on duty until 20 October.

For the needs of field implementation of the Census activities engaged were over 40 000 direct participants (enumerators, municipal and republic instructors, census commissions’ members, etc.).

​To ensure the adequate coverage of the Roma population members and also the unobstructed and successful implementation of the 2011 Census fieldwork operations in so-called sub-standard Roma settlements, i.e. in the enumeration areas inhabited mainly with population of Roma ethnicity, the SORS in cooperation with the National council of Roma ethnic minority, engaged in these areas about 150 Roma coordinators and 550 additional enumerators

The Post Enumeration Survey/PES was carried out in the period from 22 October to 5 November on a sample of 250 enumeration areas. For the purpose of the PES implementation more than 400 direct participants were engaged; these included 24 republic instructors, 113 municipal/city instructors, 250 controllers and 69 commission members in charge of data comparisons).

During the implementation of the 2011 Census fieldwork and the Post Enumeration Survey as well, in the period from 15 September and 5 November 2011, a call-center was open and at disposal of public.

On the very start of the Census implementation in field, the municipal/city instructors were obligated with each enumerator to visit several households and to determine whether the enumerators understood the methodological principles. Especially important was the check-up of the census material during the first days of enumeration, with the aim to note and eliminate in time the possible systemic errors. When receiving the census material from enumerators, the municipal/city instructors reviewed the completeness and proper processing of the census material, and also checked the accuracy of the filled census forms. In addition, when receiving the census material from the municipal/city instructors, the republic instructors and the census commissions’ members were obligated to check the coverage of the census units and the accuracy of the filled census forms.

The data validation was resumed also during the stage of the census material processing, starting from manual preparations when a series of tests/check-ups was carried out (identification data on P-1 and P-2 forms, check-ups of replies in the List of persons, etc.). Further on, in the course of scanning counted was the number of the scanned forms for the enumeration area/EA and related to the total number of forms from the Control list so to avoid that a form/questionnaire would be dropped out or double scanned.

Within the control of contingents, implemented were formal control, level of whole logic control, identification (correctness) control, control of existing/missing data on dwelling and household, control of certain features on P-1 set, and control of family.  

Following the coding and contingent control, the material was analysed with the aim to identify systematic errors, established were the rules of logic control and carried out corrections. The errors originated from improper OCR, as well as the errors that operators failed to correct when making contingent control. As the next step certain set of logic control rules was applied on a part of the census material, and then inquiries were made with the aim to test the correctness of the logic rules. Testing was two times applied on the entire material and it was considered successful if in after second run no corrections were required. All corrections were analysed in detail by the SORS experts.

In order to test the quality of data, as ell of the coverage, a large number of control tables were created. 2011 Census data were compared and related to the results of 2002 Census, and after that with the data from administrative sources (Central Register of Social Contributions Payers (CRSCP), National Employment Service, Pension and Disability Insurance Fund), as well as with the Labour Force Survey.

Data processing stages

Manual processing of the census material and the Control list entry

Manual processing of the census material included the check-up of the data of key features on the forms, supplementary coding of the data in the chapter “to be completed by statistics” and preparing the forms P-1 and P-2 for optical recognition. For the data entry from the Control list developed was the application for classical data entry. The data entered from the Control list were stored on the local servers in MS SQL Server 2008 database, within the locations for the Control list entry. The data were exported on daily basis to the central Census database in DC.

In order to follow at any instant the stage of processing for a certain enumeration area (EA) developed was a web application for following the material flow. By means of this application, the census material of any EA was followed form the moment of receipt to the storage of the regional department, up to the finalized processing of the census material.

Optical character recognition and scanning

After the finalized manual processing of the census material and the Control list entry, the census forms were firstly scanned, and then followed the optical recognition of the entered replies (letters, figures/numbers, marked boxes) and verification.

For the needs of the optical data recognition system (ODRS), the DC hardware included five servers, around 100 work stations (20 automatic stations), five scanners, network infrastructure. The operators were supposed to correct the data that the ODRS could not recognize or the recognition was wrong. Also, the application was structured so to include several principles of logic control with the aim to avoid errors in data entry. These principles usually concerned the range of values acceptable for a certain reply. I n addition, the questionnaire identification was envisaged to be in compliance with the Control list.      

Contingent control and coding

The contingent control included the logic of relations among sets for dwelling and household and the sets related to the respective persons in a dwelling, i.e. household (control of logic wholes). In this phase tested was the logic of a family. CC also assumes the control of several features from the forms P-1 and P-2, while some new key features are also derived, of which the most important are the indicator whether a person belong to the usual population and age, as well as the formal control, even though it used to be included in the OCR.

Unknown values for the topics age and sex were imputed based on the available data for certain person, as well as based on available data for other family members.

Simultaneously with the contingent control, coded were three features – educational attainment, occupation (according to the International Standard Classification of Occupations, ISCO-08, level of group), and activity – NACE Rev. 2, level of section), which because of their complexity were not coded in optical recognition as other textual boxes (settlements, municipalities, foreign countries, ethnicity, religious affiliation, mother tongue). The coding was carried out in three ways: automatic, semi-automatic and individual coding).           

Logic control

Logic control is regarded as the final stage of the census material processing. All errors that appeared and were not corrected in the previous stages of processing were eliminated by applying the rules of logic control. In logic control the errors are eliminated without the action of operators, by the means of so-called automatic corrections. The corrections are provided in the form of SQL UPDATE inquiry.   

Tables

For the purpose of producing the census books, developed was specific software that enabled the presentation of data in tables in accordance with the methodological requirements.  

Not applicable.