Press release No. 32 of August 31, 2022

• 30 million people are surveyed
• Data from 5,400 population registers were used

• More than one million gigabytes of data are processed

   

   

  WIESBADEN - The 2022 Census shows how many people live in Germany and provides comprehensive statistical information on employment, education, households, families, and buildings and dwellings. It is the largest project in the area of official statistics and does not only provide these important results but is impressive in its own right because of the facts and figures associated with it.

Informing the population is a prerequisite for support
In its population census judgment of 1983, the Federal Constitutional Court emphasised that it is an indispensable task of government public relations activities to explain to the population the reasons for conducting a population census. This is why the statistical offices of the Federation and the Länder have provided a wide range of information on the 2022 Census. To date, more than 150 press releases were published and 20 press conferences or press briefings were held. In addition, a nationwide dialogue campaign was launched. From 9 to 15 May 2022, more than 448 million posters were put up in public places across Germany to draw the public's attention to the census. Millions of people accessed the portal at www.zensus2022.de to obtain census information. "The population's support for a large project like the 2022 Census can only be secured if broad acceptance is gained through transparency", said Dr. Georg Thiel, President of the Federal Statistical Office.

5,400 population registers were evaluated to reduce the burden on the population
The 2022 Census is carried out using a register-based method. Information that is already available from administrative agencies is used to avoid interviewing all the citizens. To this end, 5,400 decentralised population registers were evaluated. Furthermore, three primary surveys are held to collect information from roughly 30 million people, which will generate statistical results on approximately 41 million households, 20 million buildings and 40 million dwellings.

One million gigabytes are processed
The 2022 Census is the largest IT project in German official statistics. Numerous digital procedures and processes are interlinked with each other, from data capture via processing to the publication of results. On the whole, more than one million gigabytes of data are processed, with the most stringent technical and organisational security measures in place.

600 survey offices and 100,000 interviewers work locally
In the whole of Germany, the household survey is conducted locally by roughly 600 municipal survey offices, which employ a total of about 6,000 people. The offices recruited up to 100,000 people to work as interviewers.

Hundreds of thousands of enquiries answered concerning the census
The statistical offices answered numerous questions of citizens, most of them in digital form. Citizens submitted more than 60,000 written questions via the www.zensus2022.de website. More than 400 comments and questions concerning the census were shared every day on the Twitter channel @zensus2022 in the weeks around Census Day in May.

Online questionnaire: large part of the responses came in on Sundays
To reduce the burden on citizens, the resource efficient online questionnaire was the focus of the 2022 Census. Most online questionnaires were completed on Sundays. A record was set on 29 May 2022 when more than 720,000 completed online questionnaires of the census of buildings and housing were received. Apart from German, users most often accessed the English, Turkish, Russian and Arabic versions of the survey questions, according to a provisional evaluation.

Our third podcast on the 2022 Census (in German) provides an insight into the 2022 Census communication.

Further information on the 2022 Census and pictures for reproduction are provided at www.zensus2022.de. There you will also find sample questionnaires (in German) of the 2022 Census surveys. If you are interested, we will be pleased to find you interview partners to discuss census issues.

Follow us on www.twitter.com/zensus2022!

For further information: www.zensus2022.de/contact