COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION - SYNOPSIS REPORT Accompanying the document Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on European statistics on population and housing, amending Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 and repealing Regulations (EC) No 763/2008 and (EU) No 1260/2013

EN EN
EUROPEAN
COMMISSION
Brussels, 20.1.2023
SWD(2023) 15 final
COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT
STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION - SYNOPSIS REPORT
Accompanying the document
Proposal for a
REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on
European statistics on population and housing, amending Regulation (EC) No 862/2007
and repealing Regulations (EC) No 763/2008 and (EU) No 1260/2013
{COM(2023) 31 final} - {SEC(2023) 38 final} - {SWD(2023) 11 final} -
{SWD(2023) 12 final} - {SWD(2023) 13 final} - {SWD(2023) 14 final}
Offentligt
KOM (2023) 0031 - SWD-dokument
Europaudvalget 2023
1
Contents
1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 2
2. Consultation strategy.......................................................................................................... 2
3. Methodology and tools used to process the results............................................................ 3
4. Stakeholder participation.................................................................................................... 4
5. Main results from the stakeholder consultation ................................................................. 6
5.1. General feedback on current statistics......................................................................... 6
5.2. Harmonisation of statistics, their concepts and definitions ......................................... 7
5.3. Integration of statistical processes............................................................................... 7
5.4. Improvement of statistical output................................................................................ 8
5.4.1. Improvements in migration statistics ................................................................... 8
5.4.2. Information on specific population groups .......................................................... 8
5.4.3. Geographical granularity of statistics................................................................... 9
5.4.4. Other..................................................................................................................... 9
5.5. Flexibility of the legal framework............................................................................. 10
6. Conclusions ...................................................................................................................... 10
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1. Introduction
European statistics on population (ESOP) comprise demographic, migration1
, and
population and housing census data. Eurostat currently collects these data from Member
States separately, with different periodicities and according to different legal bases. The new
initiative2
included in the Commission’s 2022 work programme3
aims to ensure that
population statistics remain relevant, coherent and comparable at EU and other levels in the
face of demographic, migratory, social and economic changes in society.
This staff working document presents a synopsis of the consultation activities related to
ESOP, as set out in the consultation strategy for the initiative and implemented during the
back-to-back evaluation and impact assessment. It covers the consultation on the
evaluation roadmap/inception impact assessment, the open public consultation, targeted
consultations, as well as feedback received during workshops, interviews and expert group
meetings. The stakeholder consultation took place from May 2021 to January 2022 inclusive.
Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to analyse stakeholder input.
2. Consultation strategy
In line with the European Commission’s Better Regulation guidelines, the consultation
strategy aimed to gather input on the following issues:
 whether population statistics continue to provide the necessary evidence base for EU
policies and other relevant use cases;
 if there are new and emerging data needs and potential obsolete data requirements;
 the cost and burden of statistics;
 the potential to improve efficiency and the potential for regulatory simplification.
Meeting the needs of the back-to-back evaluation and impact assessment involved looking
back (exploring what works well and what works less well in the current legal base) and
looking forward (at the impacts of the improvement options on all relevant stakeholder
groups).
There were three main stakeholder groups:
Data providers fell into two categories: administrative data providers that are public
administrations providing source data to statistical authorities for producing European
statistics, and individual respondents who are individuals participating directly in data
collection (sample survey, population and housing census enumeration).
Statistics producers were the national statistical institutes (NSIs) and other national
authorities collecting, treating and transmitting to Eurostat statistics on population,
demography, migration and censuses.
1
Asylum and managed migration statistics are not included under this initiative as they are out of scope due
to the nature of the statistics and data sources used.
2
https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/12958-Data-collection-European-
statistics-on-population-ESOP-_en
3
https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy-documents/commission-work-programme/commission-work-programme-
2022_en, see Annex II: REFIT initiatives to simplify existing legislation.
3
Statistics users were a diverse group, including institutional users that are directly involved
in EU policymaking. At EU level, these were the actual policymakers, while at international
and national levels, they support policymaking and contribute to it. Institutional users include
EU bodies, international organisations, national ministries and government research institutes.
Other professional users also contribute occasionally and indirectly to the policymaking
process at EU level. These were universities, research institutes, professional organisations,
advisory councils, NGOs, individual private companies and business associations. The media
and the general public were also part of the users’ group.
The strategy envisaged the use of different consultation activities per stakeholder, as shown in
Table 1.
Table 1 Consultation activities per user group
Stakeholder
group/Activity
Public
consultation
Targeted
consultations
Targeted
workshops
Expert group
consultations
Interviews
Administrative data
providers
X X
Individual respondents X
Statistics producers X X X X X
Institutional users X X X X X
Other professional
users, incl. academia
and research
X X X X
Media X X X
General public X
3. Methodology and tools used to process the results
A mixed-methods approach was chosen for the consultation. This included the following
activities: public and targeted consultations, targeted workshops, expert group consultations,
interviews with key stakeholders, and desk research.
To gather feedback for its evaluation roadmap/inception impact assessment consultation, open
public consultation and targeted consultation with national statistics institutes, the
Commission (Eurostat) used online tools, including EUSurvey questionnaires. For the open
consultation, respondents also had the possibility to upload documents. Replies to the targeted
consultation with statistical correspondents from the Commission departments were collected
by email. All workshops, expert group meetings and interviews took place as virtual
meetings due to health considerations and specific working arrangements related to the
COVID-19 pandemic.
The evaluation roadmap/inception impact assessment consultation and the open public
consultation4 ran via the Commission’s Have Your Say website5
. The open public
consultation was available in all official EU languages. These consultations aimed to gather
4
See the factual summary report on the open public consultation: https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-
regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/12958-Data-collection-European-statistics-on-population-ESOP-/F_en
5
https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/12958-European-statistics-on-
population-ESOP/public-consultation_en
4
information and feedback from the general public and all relevant stakeholder groups as input
into the evaluation and impact assessment, as a step towards preparing a legislative proposal.
The open public consultation was promoted via different channels: Have Your Say, the
Eurostat homepage and domain website, a dedicated news item on 30 September 2021, two
social media campaigns and Eurostat email banners and emails to stakeholders. It was also
promoted nationally by several NSIs. The questionnaire covered four sections, including
mostly closed and a few open questions. Section 1 collected information about the respondent
or organisation that the respondent represents. Section 2 collected feedback on how European
statistics on population have performed until now, while Section 3 sought opinions on how to
improve these statistics going forward. Section 4 included a few closing questions and an
option to submit any documents.
The questionnaire sent for the purpose of the targeted consultation with NSIs asked
statistics producers for more detailed opinions. The survey contained five mandatory sections.
Section 1 asked for information about the organisation. Section 2 collected information about
the national system of producing and releasing population statistics, while Section 3 collected
feedback on how European statistics on population have performed until now. Section 4
sought opinions on some specific aspects of how to improve these statistics going forward,
and Section 5 included a few closing questions.
The targeted consultation with statistical correspondents from Commission departments
collected information on new and emerging statistical needs in different EU policy areas, but
without the use of a structured questionnaire.
Interviews took one of two forms: scoping interviews and in-depth interviews. They had a
semi-structured format. In total, five workshops were scheduled around the inception and
impacts validation phases. The first two workshops, with participation of NSIs and statistics
users, discussed the inception results of the evaluation and impact assessment. The remaining
three workshops, with statistics users including EU institutional users and NSIs, focused on
the draft study results including impact validation.
Consultation results were presented and discussed with Commission informal expert groups.
These were mostly meetings of Eurostat-led expert groups with the participation of Member
State experts, namely a dedicated task force, the Working Group on Population Statistics, the
Working Group on Population and Housing Censuses, the Directors of Social Statistics and
the European Statistical System Committee. There were 10 meetings in total. Eurostat also
gave presentations at a meeting of the Statistical Correspondents Network within the
Commission (10 May 2021), the Expert Sub-group on Equality Data to the EU Agency for
Fundamental Rights (8 October 2021) and the Commission High-Level Group on Non-
Discrimination Equality and Diversity (22 November 2021).
The responses to consultation activities were carefully analysed. Analysis of the two targeted
consultation surveys was straightforward as these mapped well onto specific user groups. To
analyse the public consultation results, all replies were first mapped onto the key stakeholder
groups and then assessed by each group. Where relevant, the synopsis report presents the
diverging views of various groups of stakeholders on the same issue.
5
4. Stakeholder participation
The consultation activities mentioned above were implemented by Eurostat and/or by ICF SA
Belgium, the contractor supporting Eurostat during the evaluation and impact assessment.
Table 2 presents the timeline of key consultation actions.
Table 2 Timeline of key consultation actions
In terms of the level of participation, 4 replies were received during the 4-week consultation
on the evaluation roadmap/inception impact assessment, while the open public consultation
resulted in 172 replies. The workshop attendance was from 8 to 54 registered participants
depending on the event. While the public consultation also engaged several respondents who
have not used European statistics on population published by Eurostat (21.5% of the total),
other consultation activities involved mainly stakeholders who use these statistics regularly.
Responses to the public consultation came from all Member States but one (Cyprus), with the
number of contributions ranging from 1 to 20 per country. The number of replies did not
correlate to the Member States’ population size.
There were also 5 scoping and 47 in-depth interviews conducted (in total 182 people were
contacted). The scoping interviews asked for the views of Commission institutional users (2),
researchers (2) and the dissemination unit of Eurostat (1). The interviewed researchers also
play specific roles within the European Statistical Advisory Committee and Population
Europe, the network of Europe’s leading demographic research centres. Since the study
supporting the evaluation included case studies on the use of population definitions in
statistics in 5 Member States, 18 of the 47 in-depth interviews were conducted in the
participating countries (France – 4, Germany – 3, Spain – 4, the Netherlands – 3, Slovenia –
4). The in-depth interviews covered academia and research institutes (18), NGOs (6), public
authorities and international organisations (14), media organisations (1) and business and
other private institutions (2). To compensate for the lack of a wide response from the media,
extra efforts were made to reach representatives from business organisations and engaged two
prominent international market data providers.
The consultation ensured appropriate stakeholder coverage for statistics producers and
several types of statistics users. The various consultation activities involved all EU Member
State and EFTA country NSIs in charge of compiling European statistics on population and
transmitting them to Eurostat. Institutional users from public authorities represented almost
20% of respondents to the open public consultation and took part in 14 out of 49 interviews in
total. Professional statistics users from NGOs and academia and research took part the public
consultation (13.4% and 9.3% of respondents respectively) and in 6 and 18 interviews
respectively. Statistics users from the Commission were involved as well, directly or through
Consultation action Timeline
Evaluation roadmap/inception impact assessment
consultation
7 April until 5 May 2021
Open public consultation 30 September until 23 December 2021
Targeted consultation with statistical
correspondents from the Commission
11 May until 11 June 2021
Targeted consultation with NSIs 11 May until 11 June 2021
Inception workshops 23 and 29 September 2021
Final workshops 19, 20 and 21 January 2022
6
their statistical correspondents. EU citizens (86) provided half of the replies in the open public
consultation, often identifying themselves as statistics users. Some 29 EU citizens identified
themselves as respondents to population and housing census questionnaires. Business
organisations, trade unions and non-EU citizens each represented less than 1% of the
respondents in the open public consultation. Two interviews took place with companies as
well. Limited feedback was obtained from administrative data providers (one reply to the
open public consultation) and media organisations (one interview), despite attempts to involve
them more extensively.
During the open public consultation, there was no input from national parliaments, although
two local and three regional authorities submitted replies. Among EU bodies and agencies, the
EU Fundamental Rights Agency contributed input on data needs in the areas of equality and
non-discrimination of persons.
5. Main results of the stakeholder consultation
5.1. General feedback on current statistics
Statistics users widely acknowledged across consultation activities that the implementation of
existing EU statistical regulations led to improved harmonisation and higher quality of
statistics. EU institutional users were somewhat less satisfied than other user groups in
general regarding the availability of statistics to meet their data needs. Nonetheless, a majority
of respondents to the open public consultation across all stakeholder groups except statistics
producers agreed that the existing legislation is only ‘somewhat’ fit for purpose and overall
does not adapt quickly to new data needs.
According to the public and targeted consultations, workshops and interviews, both statistics
producers and statistics users were of a view that important areas persist for improvement
of statistics:
According to statistics users, these areas were:
 further harmonisation of statistics, including concepts and definitions;
 availability of data on subgroups at risk of inequality or discrimination (such as
LGBTI groups and ethnic minorities);
 availability of data on EU internal and external migration;
 improvements in the detail, frequency, timeliness and geographical granularity of
statistics.
In replies and position papers submitted to the open consultation, NGOs cited statistics gaps
regarding:
 missing children;
 children in alternative care;
 employment, living conditions and social inclusion of young people;
 sex, gender identity and sexual orientation;
 disability; and
 Roma as an ethnic group.
7
In addition, professional users, particularly researchers, wanted improved metadata utility and
user-friendliness of Eurostat’s dissemination.
Statistics producers had similar views as users, with two exceptions. On the harmonisation
of population definitions, NSIs were split between using a single common definition and
maintaining the status quo. The majority of NSIs considered information on gender, sexual
orientation, ethnicity, race and disability important but too sensitive to be dealt with in
population and housing censuses.
In the open public consultation, respondents aggregated over all stakeholder groups found the
following existing statistics a high priority for improvement until 2030:
 migration within the EU (66% high priority);
 migration to and from the EU (62%);
 population census outputs (59%);
 population stock and balance (48%);
 housing census outputs (41%).
Overall, consultation activities showed that the top priority for institutional and other
professional users was migration statistics. For statistics producers, the top priorities in the
open public consultation were the outputs of the population and housing census, while at the
final workshop with NSIs, the priority was migration statistics. EU institutional users,
researchers and NGOs made very strong calls for improved availability of official statistics on
population groups from equality and non-discrimination perspectives.
Statistics on fertility and mortality appeared as a moderate priority for improvement
according to all stakeholder groups.
Respondents to the public consultation across all stakeholder groups except for statistics
producers could not assess the priorities for statistics on divorces (77% ‘don’t know’),
marriage (75%) and acquisition and loss of citizenship (45%). Thus, the three statistical
domains were ranked with a lower priority than the other topics asked.
5.2. Harmonisation of statistics, their concepts and definitions
Except for statistics producers and researchers, statistics users typically were not aware that
the EU-level comparability of population statistics is currently reduced by the prevailing use
of national population base definitions. For example, in the institutional user group, around
half of the respondents knew about this gap. The NSI survey and in-depth interviews
highlighted that NSIs consider their national definitions to be adapted to national contexts and
that the benefits of the current use of national definitions centre on meeting current national
requirements. Most of the NSI survey respondents conceded that this status quo leads to
reduced statistics utility at EU level, and acknowledged that the use of national definitions
was a trade-off given the production costs involved in achieving harmonisation. On the other
hand, a majority across all groups including statistics producers agreed, often even ‘strongly’,
that harmonisation was important. Users also noted that they needed information on the exact
definitions used. Some international partners of Eurostat also highlighted the need to ensure
consistency between the EU’s definition of population and the definitions used at
international level, e.g. by the United Nations and OECD. In this regard, a definition based on
the strict usual residence concept was generally deemed preferable.
8
Most often, professional users (EU and other) noted the improved harmonisation of
migration statistics compared to the pre-EU regulation time, when all collected data were
submitted voluntarily. At the same time, they saw the current completeness and comparability
gaps as being most critical in the datasets on international migration, both from/to and within
the EU.
5.3. Integration of statistical processes
At the targeted workshops, NSIs strongly favoured the integration between Eurostat and NSIs
of data collection processes for demography, international migration and the population and
housing census statistics, thus avoiding duplicate data collections and reducing costs.
However, they were reluctant to support such integration when coupled with a major increase
in statistical output. Users except for EU institutional users were rather indifferent regarding
the integration of statistics processes.
Another element in the integration of statistical (production) processes is the extent to which
the initiative can and should foster the setting up and maintenance of national statistical
population registers by Member States. According to the targeted NSI survey, 13 Member
States already have a national statistical population register and 9 more are planning one. The
main reasons for not (yet) having one indicated by the 17 affected NSIs are the current
national legal framework (mentioned 7 times) followed by historic context (mentioned 6
times).
5.4. Improving statistical output
5.4.1. Improvements in migration statistics
Existing migration statistics were mostly perceived as insufficient by key users of the data,
who noted a complete lack of sub-national data on migration (stocks and flows). For instance,
during the open public consultation large majorities in all stakeholder groups including
statistics producers considered it a high priority to provide migration data at regional level.
Similarly, large majorities in all stakeholder groups except statistics producers considered it a
high priority to define migrant groups in more detail, while most of them, particularly NGOs,
also called for including socio-economic details of migrant groups.
During the workshops, NSIs and users indicated that datasets on intra- and extra-EU
migration are a priority for future improvements. In the NSI survey, 79% of NSIs reported
migration from/to other EU Member States and from/to third countries as being among the
types of data most requested. In the open public consultation, migration within and from/to
the EU were ranked among the top priorities to be improved by 2030, with migration within
the EU in particular posing increased challenges due to the freedom of movement leading to
reduced availability of administrative information on such intra-EU movements. Moreover,
the quality of emigration data may be limited and may underestimate the true scale of the
phenomenon, as existing data collection processes may not be sufficiently sensitive to
disaggregate emigration by detailed characteristics. At expert meetings, NSIs underlined that
further improvements in migration statistics should take place, but that this would represent a
major challenge. Therefore, they called for prioritisation and gradual implementation.
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5.4.2. Information on specific population groups
In practically all consultation activities, statistics users identified a lack of complete
information regarding the six Treaties grounds for discrimination (variables) that are relevant
for non-discrimination policies at EU level: sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief,
disability, age, and sexual orientation. To date, European equality statistics in the area of
population statistics exist for the basic demographic characteristics, sex6
and age. In the
opinion of respondents from professional user groups, the equality data ranked the lowest
among all data topics regarding the sufficiency of currently available data (only 18% of the
respondent group that expressed an opinion found the current data sufficient).
EU institutional users, researchers and NGOs noted the data gaps most often. They insisted
that statistics should cover all grounds for discrimination. In consultation responses and
interviews, including via position papers, NGOs asked for information on sexual orientation,
gender identity and sex (with differentiation between ‘sex’ and ‘sex at birth’), disability, and
ethnicity (e.g. Roma population as the largest ethnic minority in the EU, Jewish population
covered by the EU antisemitism strategy).
In the public consultation and in the impact validation workshop with non-NSIs, some
participants (mainly NGOs) highlighted that a lack of data on equality characteristics hinders
the effective combating of discrimination. However, in the impact validation workshop with
NSIs, there was a strong view that the collection of data on self-declared characteristics (e.g.
gender identity, sexual orientation) contravenes the Charter on Fundamental Rights.
According to expert group discussions and the final workshop with NSIs, statistics producers
preferred to have data collection on gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity/race and disability
implemented in sample surveys rather than in the population and housing census or
population statistics. Their main reason was that such information should be based on the
person’s self-declaration and that this is typically missing in administrative records.
NGOs commented on other aspects such as the lack of or insufficient statistics on missing
children in migration, runaway children and children in healthcare. These gaps may
possibly be addressed outside of population statistics (e.g. asylum and managed migration,
crime or health statistics).
5.4.3. Geographical granularity of statistics
In the open public consultation, respondents across all stakeholder groups cited insufficient
geographic detail as the second most frequent critical gap (after insufficient detail of
characteristics) for any statistical topic. Among respondents from professional user groups,
only minorities found the data on urban (47%) and rural (44%) populations sufficient,
which also ranked among the lowest scoring data topics.
Consequently, majorities of respondents across almost all stakeholder groups (typically except
statistics producers) assigned high priority to a future initiative that would (i) add mandatory
regional detail to annual demographic and migration statistics; and (ii) provide
functional typologies (degree of urbanisation, cities, functional areas) and 1 km square
6
The currently prevailing statistical concept of ‘sex’ at European and international levels is linked to (binary)
biological sex at birth, whereas equality and non-discrimination policies typically require data evidence on self-
identified (non-binary) gender.
10
grid data annually. This was in line with the findings from the targeted consultation of
Commission statistical correspondents.
5.4.4. Other
Housing was the second lowest rated data topic (after equality data) from professional users
among open public consultation respondents (only 24% of the respondent group that
expressed an opinion found the current data sufficient). Also during the consultation of
Commission statistical correspondents, a need was cited for more frequent and timelier
housing data, including appropriate variables to capture energy efficiency of housing and
other aspects relevant to EU Green Deal monitoring. In expert group meetings, NSIs
mentioned a certain degree of availability of related information in national administrative
sources, but thought that this data request fell outside the scope of population statistics.
NGOs found statistics on legally induced abortions and infant mortality important, contrary
to the NSIs’ view on their declining relevance.
According to the open public consultation, 46% of respondents have used European weekly
deaths and excess mortality statistics established as a voluntary data collection in response to
the COVID-19 pandemic. Half of the respondents in the public consultation expressed a
positive opinion on the potential regular availability of monthly data on population, births,
deaths and migration.
In the public consultation, both users and producers supported an improvement in the
timeliness of statistics, as well as splitting the current decennial EU census outputs into
annual and decennial parts in the future.
While the majority of users across all groups were in favour of transforming the voluntary
data requirements into mandatory ones, statistics producers opposed this.
Individual statistics users requested availability of specific age breakdowns complementing
the currently prevalent 5-year age bands to categorise children, young people and elderly
groups more accurately.
5.5. Flexibility of the legal framework
In the open public consultation, large majorities in almost all stakeholder groups (all except
statistics producers) assigned high priority to introducing flexibility, including regulatory
mechanisms in a new legal framework. One third of respondents aggregated over all
stakeholder groups – mostly users – supported the inclusion of effective mechanisms to adapt
statistics more quickly and efficiently (e.g. to meet emerging user needs, exploit new data
sources or methods), where the administrative cost and burden are proportionate to the added
value for the EU. At expert meetings, statistics producers also expressed cautious support,
while mentioning that safeguards are needed to keep the burden on NSIs under control.
6. Conclusions
The stakeholder consultation was implemented in line with the Commission’s Better
Regulation guidelines. It successfully reached the intended stakeholder groups, except for
11
administrative data providers and media organisations. Given the subject’s technical nature,
the respondents’ overall engagement was considered sufficient to support the back-to-back
evaluation and impact assessment of European statistics on population.
The consultation supported the ongoing Commission initiative on ESOP and acknowledged
significant improvements since the previous policy intervention in demography, international
migration and population, and housing census statistics. However, the consultation also
pointed to the existence of statistical gaps and the emergence of new statistical needs that
cannot be satisfied within the current legal framework.
All stakeholders confirmed the need to plan statistical improvements, although they did not
always agree on the level of ambition regarding such improvements. Statistics producers were
somewhat more conservative than statistics users regarding changes.
Statistical topics that gathered support across all stakeholder groups as priority topics were
improved migration statistics, more detailed geographical detail and more timely and frequent
statistics. While all stakeholders acknowledged the issue of harmonising the population base
as very important, some statistical producers opposed a change.
The main statistical topics where producer and user views parted concerned equality data and
making existing voluntary data collection mandatory. To a lesser extent, producers and users
had different views regarding statistics on housing, legally induced abortions and infant
mortality.