Census in Germany - Since 1949 West Germany

Since 1949 West Germany

In the 1980s, attempts at introducing a census in West Germany sparked strong popular resentment since some felt that the questions to be asked were quite personal. Comparisons to Orwell's 1984 were drawn. Some campaigned for a boycott, or for intentional false statements. The Constitutional Court stopped the census in 1983, and required a revision of the process. The modified census was eventually held in 1987.

For 1991, a year in which also Austria held a census, a concurrent census in both West and East Germany had been planned, but it was canceled due to reunification, and replaced by a "micro census" population sample among 1 percent of house holds. Due to reunification and immigration from former Eastern Bloc states and the war-torn Balkans, the population has grown to c. 82 million in the 1990s, but no census was held since 1987. The CIA Factbook estimates the population at 82,329,758 (as of July 2009), and ranks Germany as 17th in the world (including the EU as third).

Former population censuses in Germany were complete enumerations obtained direct from the entire population in personal interviews or by questionnaire. That method produces very accurate results, but involves much effort. For the 1987 population census, some 500 000 enumerators were required. For 2011, a change in methodology is planned, and the costs of the largely register-based census are expected to be only about one third of the expenditure of a traditional population census. Mainly the data already stored in the registers of the administrative authorities, in the population registers of the municipalities and the registers of the Federal Employment Agency will be used. Additional data, like information on education, training and occupation, will be collected by an interview-based sample survey. The data on buildings and dwellings, for which there are no registers in Germany, will be collected by mail from all owners.