Press release No. 14 of May 5, 2022

• Starting in mid-May, over 30 million people in Germany will be surveyed
• Online questionnaires enable easy participation

• Personal interviews will be short and require little contact

   

WIESBADEN - Data collection for the 2022 Census will start on 15 May. Over 30 million people all over Germany will be surveyed for the census. The goal is to make it as easy as possible for people to answer the survey questions, to save costs and to apply an environmentally friendly procedure. This is why easy-to-use online questionnaires are used for a large part of the census.

Interviewers announce their visit in writing
The 2022 Census consists of a population census and a census of buildings and housing. For the population census, about 10.3 million randomly selected people in households will be interviewed. In addition, all those living in residential establishments will be counted. A short personal interview will be conducted by interviewers there. The interviewers will announce their visit to the selected household in writing. On the appointed date, they will show an official interviewer identity card together with an official photo identification. The personal interview will take about five to ten minutes and can be carried out with little contact at the front door.

About three quarters of the participants will then answer additional questions on topics such as education and occupation. This may be done online and will take about ten to fifteen minutes. They will receive their login details for the online questionnaire after the personal interview.
For people in collective living quarters, the facility management will provide information on their behalf in an online questionnaire. The residents do not have to answer any questions.

Online response in the census of buildings and housing
Online participation is the standard procedure in the census of buildings and housing. About 23 million owners of residential property in Germany will receive a letter containing login details from the Land statistical office responsible for them. These letters will gradually be sent out in the next few weeks. Completing the online questionnaire will usually take less than ten minutes. It contains questions such as on the year of construction, size and rent.

Completing a paper questionnaire is the exception
“People who cannot use the online questionnaire may provide their information in a paper questionnaire”, says Katja Wilken, overall project leader of the 2022 Census at the Federal Statistical Office. “We know that not everyone finds it easy to handle an online questionnaire.”

The 2022 Census Act specifies that people are obliged to provide information in the surveys belonging to the census. All those who have been selected for the census are obliged to participate.

The documents (factsheet and statement, in German) on the online press briefing on “What is the procedure of the 2022 Census surveys?” of 5 May 2022, further information on the 2022 Census and pictures for reproduction are available at 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.

Follow us on www.twitter.com/zensus2022!

For further information: www.zensus2022.de/contact