Preliminary results of the e-census

News

Posted on 6 February 2012, 10:00

More than 62% of the estimated population of Estonia were enumerated in the e-census, based on preliminary data. The final proportion of e-census participants will be revealed after the publication of the census results in May, when the actual population size of Estonia has been determined.

The e-census ended at midnight (23:59) on 1 February. The system counted all the questionnaires where respondents had logged into the e-census environment before that moment and finished the questionnaire by 02:00 on 2 February the latest.

The total number of completed Personal Questionnaires, where the person’s household and dwelling had also been enumerated, was 815,467, which is 62% of the estimated population of Estonia. “If we include the people who had omitted to enumerate some of the household members or had not completed the Dwelling Questionnaire, the total number of completed Personal Questionnaires is 880,455, which accounts for 66.7% of the estimated population,” said Ms Diana Beltadze, Project Manager of the 2011 Population and Housing Census.

Number of completed Personal Questionnaires and share in the population:
County	Number of e-census participants	% of permanent residents
Harju county	416,917	74.7
of which Tallinn	292,797	73.2
Hiiu county	5,945	64.4
Ida-Viru county	75,059	48.1
Jõgeva county	18,505	55.9
Järva county	20,212	63.1
Lääne county	15,384	61.5
Lääne-Viru county	37,964	61.4
Põlva county	16,337	55.9
Pärnu county	53,683	62.5
Rapla county	23,765	66.5
Saare county	20,786	63.2
Tartu county	110,125	75.8
Valga county	16,830	53.1
Viljandi county	29,563	59.0
Võru county	19,375	55.3

These figures include persons who were enumerated twice. “At the moment, we are processing the data and haven’t yet excluded all cases of duplicate enumeration, but our estimate is that the share of duplicate enumerations will be around 4 to 5%,” said Beltadze. Thus, the proportion of e-census participants is not expected to decrease.

The online Personal Questionnaires were completed on 410,787 men and 469,668 women (permanent residents); in most age groups, the share of women was a little higher than the share of men among all e-census participants in that group.

The age distribution of the e-census participants was as expected, said Professor Ene-Margit Tiit, the Head of Methodology of the 2011 Population and Housing Census. “Among the younger working-age population (aged 20–35), the share of e-census participants was more than 75% of all persons in this age group; and the participation rate was more than 77% for children whose Personal Questionnaires were completed by their parents. The share of e-census participants was lower in older age groups, reaching 40 to 45% among residents aged 60 and above,” said Professor Tiit.

N.B. All the abovementioned figures and shares are preliminary. Instances of duplicate enumeration have not yet been excluded from the Personal Questionnaires. Also, all the shares will be recalculated once the actual population size as well as the regional and age distribution of the population have been determined based on the census.

The census is conducted until 31 March. During the first month (31 Dec 2011 to 1 Feb 2012), the permanent residents of Estonia could complete the census online. Those who did not participate in the e-census will be visited by an enumerator in the period of 16 February to 31 March 2012.