Information support for rural areas development: methodological principles of using administrative registers’ data for conducting rural population censuses

Abstract

The article deals with the study of the role of the population census as the main official source of data on the population, in particular, those living in rural areas, and its main characteristics. The role of statistical data in providing information for the development of rural areas is substantiated. The demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the rural and urban population of Ukraine for the period 2000-2021 are compared. Census provides data on the number and main characteristics of the country's population based on principles of individual enumeration, simultaneity, universality, small area data and defined periodicity. From the methodological point of view, the main forms of the census are traditional, combined and register-based. The purpose of the study is to generalize methodological approaches to the register-based censuses and to analyze prerequisites for the transition from traditional to the register-based census. The study was performed on the basis of the systematic approach. Analysis, synthesis, comparison, theoretical generalization, as well as abstract-logical and historical methods as general-scientific methods of theoretical research were applied to achieve the purpose of the study. The results obtained indicate that an administrative register is a systematic collection of unit-level data that can be updated. Population register and a dwelling register should be used in a census in order to treat it as register-based. The main advantages of the register-based census are cost reduction, better possibilities of updating data, performing census more frequently and quicker, improving data accuracy by integration of different registers information. To meet census needs, administrative data have to be complete, accurate, linkable, up-to-date, contain sufficient variables. However, so far as register data are collected for non-statistical purposes, additional measures are needed to enable their use for census purposes. These are methodological as well as legislative and technical measures. The countries of Northern Europe have accumulated the greatest experience of conducting population censuses based on administrative registers. This will be useful to the state statistics authorities of Ukraine for the statistical purposes of population accounting. Also this will allow to reduce the cost of obtaining necessary information, as well as expand the list of data for further analysis. Our research found that Ukrainian statistics started moving toward research-based census, but there is a lot of work to conduct the 2030 Census based on administrative registers data. Key words: rural areas, rural territorial community, census, traditional census, combined census, register-based census, administrative register.