Press release No. 24 of July 19, 2022

WIESBADEN - The successful conduct of the surveys and the reliability of the supporting software have been questioned in the context of the 2022 Census. The statistical offices of the Federation and the Länder make it clear that the census surveys are progressing successfully. The intended high quality of the census results, in particular the population figures, is maintained at any time.

In isolated cases, the software supporting the household survey has not always been fully functional in all respects. This does however not impede the process itself. Much of this has already been fixed, or will be fixed in the next few weeks, by new software releases. Until then, it can be resolved manually. The Federal Statistical Office has issued instructions to all software users for this purpose. The municipal and statistical offices are performing their tasks. The 2022 Census is making good progress. “Over 60 percent of the people to be surveyed have successfully participated in the census surveys”, said Dr. Georg Thiel, President of the Federal Statistical Office. “Many people have made use of the opportunity to participate online. Our systems process thousands of data sets from the municipalities and the population every day.”

Census software tested early and extensively
The software developed for the 2022 Census was extensively tested already in the development phase. The municipalities and the statistical offices of the Länder are the main users of the software and have been involved in the software development at an early stage.

Online participation well received and implemented
There has been considerable technological progress since the last census conducted in 2011. The use of digital data collection tools in the 2022 Census is proving to be a success. This is shown by its public acceptance and a high response rate. Many respondents have completed the online questionnaire in the census of buildings and housing. The same applies to the household survey where a large proportion of respondents have used the online questionnaire.

The statistical offices of Bayern, Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Bremen use tablets in the household survey. The interviewers capture data from the personal interviews with the tablets. Alternatively, the data provided in personal interviews may be reported online or by paper questionnaire. “In a federal structure, it is a matter of course that the Länder apply different solutions to successfully do their part in the census”, underlines Dr. Thomas Gößl, President of the Land Office for Statistics of Bayern. “The use of various digital survey instruments in the 2022 Census has resulted in a good to very good response rate so far. The quality of the results is not an issue.”

The census determines how many people live in Germany and how they live and work. Precise population and dwelling data will result from the census. They serve as a reliable basis for planning decision-making at the federal, Land and municipality levels.
The census in Germany is a register-based population census supplemented by sample surveys and combined with a census of buildings and housing. This means that data are mainly derived from administrative registers. The large majority of the population are not surveyed.

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

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For further information: www.zensus2022.de/contact