Discussion: Uses of Administrative Record Benchmarking in Modern Census-Taking

The extent and pace of development in using administrative data in censuses varies from continent to continent and from country to country. This variability is due in part to several factors, including concerns about privacy, confidentiality, and other legal constraints; differential advancement and implementation of statistical techniques to address some concerns; and differences in the policies of the nations concerning enumeration. Further concerned about the accelerated cost of conducting census enumeration and controlling quality assurance of administrative data, a number of European states led by Nordic countries have incrementally adopted censuses exploiting administrative data (Nordbotten, 2010; Sundgren, 2011). The Danish population census in 1980 was the first register-based enumeration. The Swedish and the Norwegian censuses both followed suit most recently in 2011. The Dutch have been carrying out its own unique virtual census for decades. The United States has applied administrative data to improve economic and business statistics and health statistics, and made technological and statistical innovations for decades to advance the systematic use of administrative data in improving the address frame and assessing coverage error in decennial censuses, to name a few. The U.S. Census Bureau in particular is at a critical juncture in its planning for its Census 2020. In this session, researchers of official statistical agencies across the Atlantic address the latest advances in the use of administrative data by considering each nation's unique history of challenges and opportunities associated with administrative data. In this session, countries on the west of the Atlantic will hear from some countries on the east of the Atlantic particularly about quality-profiling of administrative data and making a cost effective census.



3 papers and 2 discussants



(Chair) - Frank Vitrano, US Census Bureau





(Papers)





Evaluation of the quality of administrative data used in the Dutch Virtual Census. Piet J.H. Daas, Saskia J.L. Ossen, Martijn Tennekes, and Eric Schulte Nordholt, Statistics Netherlands







Doing a register-based census for the first time: the Swedish experiences. Anders Holmberg, Ingegerd Jansson, Dan Hedlin, Statistics Sweden







Limitations and gaps in administrative uses of Norwegian Census-taking, Coen Hendriks and Johan Amberg, Statistics Norway







(Discussants)





Connie Citro, National Academy of Sciences - A view from the Outside



Amy O'Hara, US Census Bureau - A view from the Inside