(fra europaparlaments- og rådsforordningen)

(1) European statistics on population and housing play a central role in policy-making and decision-making processes and are therefore necessary for the design, implementation and evaluation of Union policies, in particular policies addressing demographic change and the green and digital transitions, policies related to the framework for the promotion of energy efficiency, economic, social and territorial cohesion, and policies related to the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights, as well as those necessary for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda in so far as they fall within the scope of this Regulation.

(2) European social statistics, including statistics on population and housing, are currently produced on the basis of a number of legislative acts. This Regulation should continue the seamless integration and streamlining of European social statistics, which started with Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3).

(3) Statistics on population are an important denominator for a wide range of policy indicators and are used as a reference across European statistics, particularly for providing sampling frames for conducting representative surveys of persons and households under Regulation (EU) 2019/1700.

(4) The Economic and Financial Affairs Council regularly gives a mandate to the Economic Policy Committee to assess the long-term sustainability and quality of public finances on the basis of population projections produced by Eurostat. Such population projections are also used for policy analysis in the context of the European Semester. The Commission (Eurostat) should have at its disposal all the statistics necessary to produce and publish population projections corresponding to the information needs of the Union.

(5) Pursuant to Article 175, second paragraph, of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Commission is to report, every three years, on the progress made towards achieving economic, social and territorial cohesion to the European Parliament, the Council, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. Regional and local data, including for different territorial types such as border regions, cities and their functional urban areas, metropolitan regions, rural regions and mountain and island regions, are necessary for the preparation of those reports and for the regular monitoring of demographic developments and of possible future demographic challenges in the Union territories.

(6) Pursuant to Article 16(4) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), a qualified majority of the members of the Council is defined, inter alia, on the basis of the population of the Member States. For that purpose, pursuant to Article 4(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4), Member States are currently obliged to provide the Commission (Eurostat) with data on their total population at national level. Member States should continue to provide such information to the Commission (Eurostat) pursuant to this Regulation.

(7) In 2017, the European Statistical System Committee (ESSC) adopted the ‘Budapest Memorandum on Population Movements and Integration Issues – Migration Statistics’ (the ‘Budapest Memorandum’), which stated the need for annual statistics on the size and certain social, economic and demographic characteristics of the population. In order to respect the principles of equality and non-discrimination and to respect the citizens’ rights enshrined in Article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and in Articles 10 and 19 TFEU, the Union needs reliable and comparable statistics. Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 provides a framework for the collection of data from samples that enables the collection of data on equality and non-discrimination, in so far as that is feasible on the basis of samples, as well as the analysis of some aspects of equality and discrimination by producing socioeconomic indicators and information on experience of discrimination. In addition, the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) and the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) carry out specific studies and dedicated surveys that can further extend the availability of equality statistics at Union level. Moreover, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) makes available data and information on living and working conditions collected via surveys. Future cooperation and coordination between the Member States, Eurostat, FRA, EIGE and Eurofound should, under the relevant legal frameworks, be enhanced to meet growing user demands for reliable and comprehensive data on equality and diversity in the Union.

(8) The Budapest Memorandum also called for improved statistics on migration and for the development and implementation of common population and migration-related definitions, taking into account the need to establish concepts and definitions that are statistically sound, relevant and applicable in view of emerging types of migration. Recent and ongoing events, such as the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the Union, and humanitarian crises, such as the consequences of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, underline the importance of timely and detailed migration and international protection statistics, which are essential to establishing an overview of migratory flows to, within and from the Union.

(9) To achieve the targets set out in the communication of the Commission of 11 December 2019 on the European Green Deal, the development and evaluation of effective policies require enhanced statistics relating to the energy use and efficiency of housing, detailed geographical data on population distribution, and deeper studies of the relationship between population and housing. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the need for reliable, frequent and timely statistics on deaths in the Union. The Union needs an adequate mechanism for the mandatory collection of such data within the European Statistical System (ESS) carried out with the necessary frequency, timeliness and detail.

(10) Mandatory collection of data within the ESS on the basis of this Regulation is intended to facilitate the regular and timely monitoring of progress in the implementation of the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights, in the achievement of the headline targets of the related Action Plan, and in the achievement of the aims of the European Child Guarantee established by Council Recommendation (EU) 2021/1004 (5) at national level, while also providing data to facilitate the assessment of the distributional impact of climate change and relevant policies.

(11) On the proposal of the UN Statistical Commission, the UN Economic and Social Council adopts resolutions every 10 years regarding the World Population and Housing Census and invites UN member countries to conduct population and housing censuses in line with international and regional recommendations and to uphold the integrity, reliability, accuracy and value of the population and housing census results. European statistics on population and housing should take into account those international and regional recommendations.

(12) Streamlining reporting obligations and reducing the administrative burden is a central objective of the Union. The communication of the Commission of 16 March 2023 on the Long-term competitiveness of the EU: looking beyond 2030 aims to rationalise and simplify reporting requirements by 25 % for companies and administrations, while not undermining the related policy objectives. Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council (6) established a legal framework for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics on the basis of common statistical principles. That Regulation sets out quality criteria and refers to the need to minimise the response burden on survey respondents and to contribute to the more general objective of reducing the administrative burden. A new legal framework for European statistics on population and housing should implement and build upon the quality criteria set out in that Regulation and reduce the administrative burden by embracing the effective and efficient use of available data sources, including administrative data.

(13) Since administrative records are the most cost-efficient and administratively efficient data sources that embrace the ‘once-only’ principle, it should be possible to use them for all data sets provided to the Commission, provided that Member States confirm, where applicable by use of estimation methods, that the coverage and quality of those data sources is sufficient and provided that they thoroughly describe the coverage and quality in the quality reports and metadata accompanying the data transmission.

(14) The evaluation of published statistics on the population and housing censuses in the Union, on international migration flows, migrant stocks and the acquisition of citizenship, and on demography has shown that the current legal framework, comprising Regulations (EC) No 862/2007 (7) and (EC) No 763/2008 (8) of the European Parliament and the Council and Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013, has led to significant overall improvements of statistics compared to the situation in 2005, before the current legal framework was in force. That framework, however, has a potential lack of coherence and comparability, which should be addressed.

(15) Climate change, the digital transition, the evolving demographic situation and recent migration trends have created demands for timelier, more frequent and more detailed European statistics on population, socioeconomic developments, vital events and housing, including details of topics or groups that have become politically and societally relevant during the last decade. In addition, the current legal framework is not sufficiently flexible to adapt to evolving policy needs and to enable the use of new sources at Union and national level. Furthermore, the structure of the current legal framework, in the form of three separate Regulations adopted at different times, has led to inconsistencies in the resulting statistics. Finally, as Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 will cease to apply on 31 August 2028, a new legal framework is required for the demographic statistics that are collected pursuant to that Regulation. The new legal framework should be more coherent and flexible, should amend the relevant provisions of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 and should repeal Regulations (EC) No 763/2008 and (EU) No 1260/2013.

(16) Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 covers statistics on the country of citizenship and place of birth of the resident population (migrant stocks), on the change of residence between countries (international migration flows) and on the acquisition of citizenship by the resident population. The other statistics collected pursuant to that Regulation concern administrative and judicial procedures relating to immigration legislation and international protection. The statistics referred to in Article 3 of that Regulation are closely linked to, and should be consistent with, the statistics on the resident population and demographic changes provided for by Regulations (EC) No 763/2008 and (EU) No 1260/2013. To ensure consistency, those statistics should therefore be integrated into a single legal basis and Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 should be deleted.

(17) The rapidly changing nature of certain population and housing characteristics, in particular in relation to demographic, socioeconomic and migration phenomena, and the corresponding need for prompt targeting and adaptation of policies means that there is a need for statistics to be available on a timely basis, soon after the relevant reference period for such statistics. The periodicity and timeliness of statistics should therefore be substantively increased, where possible through the use of administrative data and administrative records. To that end, it is necessary that Member States provide adequate resources for their national statistical institutes.

(18) Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council (9) establishes a grid-based methodology for the definition of territorial typologies, based on the population distribution by 1 km2 grid cells. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1799 (10), which established a temporary direct statistical action for the dissemination of selected topics accompanying the 2021 population and housing censuses, provides for key census outputs on a pan-European 1 km2 grid. The new legal framework should ensure the continued dissemination of georeferenced population statistics based on grids, and its extension to housing statistics.

(19) Territorial units and statistical grids as referred to in this Regulation are intended to be the same as those provided for in Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003.

(20) For the purpose of geocoding location, the Statistical Units theme set out in Annex III to Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (11) is to be used.

(21) The current legal framework for European statistics on population and housing should be updated to ensure that the currently separate statistical processes are integrated in a common framework that allows the ESS to respond effectively to new information needs of the Union and to encourage statistical innovations. It is necessary that statistical output be enhanced to remain relevant in the face of demographic, migratory, social and economic changes and challenges, thus supporting policy-making and decision-making.

(22) The enhanced regular (annual and infra-annual) statistics on population and housing should be complemented with information from coordinated population and housing censuses in the Union, conducted every 10 years in accordance with the UN Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses. Population and housing censuses provide a unique opportunity to render official statistics visible in terms of operation and results.

(23) Union population and housing censuses should become more cost-effective by making full use of the rich set of administrative data available across the Member States or across a combination of innovative methodologies and sources, including new sources which emerge from the provision of digital services. Those censuses should also be used to re-establish the demographic baseline. The use of such new sources should be subject to the legal, technical and procedural safeguards established by Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.

(24) Member States and the Commission (Eurostat) should have access to the widest possible range of data sources in order to produce high-quality European statistics on population and housing in a cost-effective manner. In that regard, it is crucial that national statistical institutes and other national authorities included on the list referred to in Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 (national statistical authorities) are able to access and are allowed to use, the administrative data owned by public administrations at national, regional and local level, in a timely manner in accordance with Article 17a of that Regulation. For example, statistics on the energy efficiency of buildings can be based on administrative data relating to the issuance of energy certificates of buildings under Directive 2010/31/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (12). National statistical authorities should have timely and regular access to the national databases on the energy performance of buildings pursuant to Directive (EU) 2024/1275 of the European Parliament and of the Council (13). National statistical authorities also need to be involved in decisions concerning the design and redevelopment of relevant administrative data sources to ensure that those data sources can be further used for the compilation of official statistics.

(25) In recent years, comprehensive Union-level databases and interoperability systems related to residence, vital events, citizenship and migratory and cross-border movements of population have been developed, such as those established by Regulations (EU) No 910/2014 (14), (EU) 2018/1724 (15), (EU) 2019/817 (16) and (EU) 2019/818 (17) of the European Parliament and of the Council. They provide valuable information that can be used for the compilation and quality assurance of European statistics on population and housing.

(26) It is essential to enable the Commission (Eurostat) to use data from Union-level databases and interoperability systems only for statistical purposes, subject to strictly applying rules of data protection and data privacy pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council (18). This should apply, in particular, to the statistical data stored in the central repository for reporting and statistics (CRRS) established by Article 39(1) of Regulation (EU) 2019/817, by Article 39(1) of Regulation (EU) 2019/818, and by Regulations establishing the systems whose statistical data are stored in the CRRS. In particular, considering that the CRRS is to provide cross-system statistical data and analytical reporting for policy, operational and data quality purposes, the Commission (Eurostat) should cooperate with the European Union Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA), to the extent possible, with a view to providing the required European statistics.

(27) Privately held data refer to the vast amount of data held by private entities obtained as a result of their activity, which could be used by national statistical authorities and the Commission (Eurostat) to produce official statistics. Such data can improve the coverage, timeliness and crisis-response capacities of European statistics on population and housing and can enable statistical innovation. Such data have the potential to complement existing demography and migration statistics, bring statistical innovation and even serve for production of early estimates, provided that the rights and freedoms of data holders are protected. The national statistical authorities and the Commission (Eurostat) have access to and are able to use such data and to cooperate with the private data holders pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.

(28) To ensure the comparability of European statistics on population and housing at Union level, it is essential that common population definitions are used and implemented in a harmonised way. To implement the single harmonised population base consistently, robustly and cost-effectively, while ensuring timely results, it should be possible to apply scientifically based modelling techniques and statistical methods, such as signs of life, where appropriate.

(29) With the aim of ensuring the highest coverage quality, Member States should use estimation methods to achieve an accurate estimate of the total population at national level. Member States should be able to use estimation methods for more detailed breakdowns, including geographical breakdowns. A substantial lack of knowledge of individual characteristics, such as age and sex, is inherent to some estimation methods, for example when estimating statistics based on data that are not available from administrative or other sources. Where such estimation methods result in an insufficient level of breakdown detail, Member States should be able to use a dedicated adjustment category in order to estimate the population in all relevant data sets. The use of such adjustment categories, indicating ‘unknown’ data, provides the necessary flexibility for situations where all available data sources have been used and no further detail can be obtained. Where they use a dedicated adjustment category, Member States should explain their methodology and provide reasons for the use of an adjustment category in the relevant quality reports.

(30) Member States should provide their data and metadata in electronic form in an appropriate technical format to be provided by the Commission (Eurostat). International standards, such as the Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange (SDMX) initiative, and statistical or technical standards developed within the Union, such as metadata and validation standards or European Interoperable Framework principles, should be used to the extent relevant for European statistics on population and housing. The ESSC has endorsed the ESS standards for metadata and quality reports set out in Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. Those standards are to contribute to the harmonisation of quality assurance and reporting under this Regulation and should therefore be introduced.

(31) European statistics on population and housing should meet the quality criteria on relevance, accuracy, timeliness and punctuality, accessibility and clarity, comparability and coherence set out in Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. The quality of those statistics should be enhanced to the extent that the needs of the Union evolve, and mechanisms should be established to address possible situations where the quality of data is not guaranteed. Appropriate results from the quality assessment carried out by the Commission (Eurostat) should be publicly available to statistics users by ensuring free and easy access to those statistics through Commission (Eurostat) databases on its website and in its publications.

(32) European statistics on population and housing should address the persistent lack of data regarding hard-to-reach population groups such as persons residing in institutions, persons with disabilities, homeless people, persons with a migrant background and stateless persons. In order to capture the best possible picture of society and to prevent social and economic inequalities, Member States should strive to ensure that hard-to-reach population groups are accurately covered. The pilot and feasibility studies launched pursuant to this Regulation should be used to address this matter.

(33) In order to have adequate, timely and effective policies, it is necessary to obtain reliable and comparable data, disaggregated by gender, age and, where relevant, nationality, socioeconomic status, geographical area and other characteristics in accordance with the statistical principles laid down in Article 338 TFEU and with the European Statistics Code of practice and the Quality Assurance Framework of the ESS. Those data are important in order to better understand population and housing trends, to combat intersectional discrimination and to implement and assess Union policies, political objectives and actions, such as the European Care Strategy laid down in the communication of the Commission of 7 September 2022 on the European care strategy, the European Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities laid down in the communication of the Commission of 3 March 2021 on Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030 and the European Platform on Combatting Homelessness launched by the Lisbon Declaration of 21 June 2021 on the European Platform on Combatting Homelessness, all of which rely heavily on data on households and families. Disaggregation by disability should be encouraged by using existing and new administrative data sources as leverage. The collection and use of data is to be conducted with full respect for Union and national standards concerning privacy and for other fundamental rights, particularly when involving the data of minors. Disaggregation by gender should reflect available data in Member States. In some Member States, it is currently possible for persons to legally register as having a third, often a neutral, gender. This Regulation does not affect relevant national rules giving effect to such recognition.

(34) Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 includes rules on the provision of data from the Member States to the Commission (Eurostat) and on the use thereof, including on the transmission and protection of confidential data. Measures taken in accordance with this Regulation should ensure that confidential data are provided and used exclusively for statistical purposes pursuant to Articles 21 and 22 of that Regulation.

(35) The Commission (Eurostat) is to respect the statistical confidentiality of the data provided by Member States pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 223/2009. With regard to the population statistics collected under this Regulation, a harmonised approach to ensuring the high quality of statistical aggregates at European level and avoiding the disclosure of confidential data in statistical outputs should be developed, avoiding as far as possible the suppression of data.

(36) Data sources available at national level are not always able to capture accurately phenomena related to the free movement of persons in the Union, the access of persons to cross-border services related to vital events and the exercise of persons’ rights to buy and own housing property used as primary, holiday and secondary accommodation across the Union. There are also asymmetries in the bilateral migration flows and difficulties in measuring population groups, for instance among migrant, homeless or stateless populations. Therefore, data sharing for the purpose of compiling statistics on population and migration and of ensuring their quality should be reinforced and considered as yet another data source. Such reinforced data sharing should cover a range of relevant data, including data that clearly do not allow, whether directly or indirectly, the identification of statistical units. It should be able to cover data that are potentially subject to statistical confidentiality requirements. Member States should, in their own interest and in the interest of the other Member States, participate in data sharing activities, including in pilot projects assessing innovative secure solutions. The Commission (Eurostat) should also establish a secure infrastructure to facilitate such data sharing while ensuring all necessary safeguards for data protection.

(37) The sharing of confidential data should take place only on the basis of a request justifying the necessity of sharing those data pursuant to Chapter V of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.

(38) In the longer term, the collaborative efforts in the ESS to mitigate cross-border statistical quality concerns, such as the double counting of Union residents enjoying freedom of movement, should benefit from, for example, single digital identifiers established at Union level by Regulation (EU) No 910/2014.

(39) This Regulation is without prejudice to Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council (19), Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, and Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (20). Within their respective scope of application, those legislative acts are to apply to the processing of personal data under this Regulation, taking into account the fact that personal data processed for statistical purposes in the public interest are statistical confidential data, subject to the principle of statistical confidentiality. Therefore, such data are to be used only for statistical purposes and are never to be used for measures or decisions regarding any specific natural person. Anonymised or pseudonymised data should preferably be used for the processing, sharing and archiving of personal data for statistical purposes under this Regulation, in order to guarantee the safeguards adopted pursuant to Article 89 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Article 13 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725. Where personal data are processed pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2016/679 or (EU) 2018/1725, the principles of lawfulness, fairness, transparency and accuracy, purpose limitation, data minimisation, storage limitation and integrity and confidentiality should be fully applied. Similarly, the statistical principles set out in Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 and further developed in the European Statistics Code of Practice should apply.

(40) European statistics on population and housing should evolve to take into account emerging data needs stemming from changing policy priorities, as well as changes in the demographic, migratory, social or economic situation in the Union. The Commission (Eurostat) should undertake pilot and feasibility studies assessing the feasibility of the adaptations concerned, as appropriate, and should take into account aspects such as costs and administrative burdens on Member States and the availability of appropriate data sources. When preparing those studies, the Commission should ensure the representativeness of the studies at Union level, while reflecting divergences across Member States. The Commission should evaluate the results of those studies in cooperation with the Member States.

(41) In order to take account of demographic, economic and social trends, technological developments and the need to design well-targeted policies in a timely manner, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU should be delegated to the Commission in order to amend the list of detailed topics covered by European statistics on population and housing and to specify the information to be provided by Member States for the purpose of additional statistical data collection. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making (21). In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States’ experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.

(42) The importance of European statistics as a vital part of evidence-based decision-making is reflected in the programming and financing framework established by Regulation (EU) 2021/690 of the European Parliament and the Council (22) for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics (Single Market Programme). Member States should be able to apply for financial support from the Single Market Programme as well as from the Technical Support Instrument established by Regulation (EU) 2021/240 of the European Parliament and of the Council (23), in accordance with the objectives of and the rules relating to those instruments, for adapting their national statistical systems, improving the methodology and data quality of statistics, and planning and implementing all additional collection of data under this Regulation.

(43) Pursuant to Regulations (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 (24) and (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013 (25) of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Regulations (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 (26), (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 (27) and (EU) 2017/1939 (28), the financial interests of the Union are to be protected by means of proportionate measures, including measures relating to the prevention, detection, correction and investigation of irregularities, including fraud, to the recovery of funds lost, wrongly paid or incorrectly used, and, where appropriate, to the imposition of administrative penalties. Moreover, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) has the power to carry out administrative investigations, including on-the-spot checks and inspections, with a view to establishing whether there has been fraud, corruption or any other illegal activity affecting the financial interests of the Union. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (the ‘EPPO’) is empowered by Regulation (EU) 2017/1939 to investigate and prosecute criminal offences affecting the financial interests of the Union as provided for in Directive (EU) 2017/1371 of the European Parliament and of the Council (29). Pursuant to Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509, any person or entity receiving Union funds is to fully cooperate in the protection of the financial interests of the Union, grant the necessary rights and access to the Commission, OLAF, the Court of Auditors and, in respect of those Member States participating in enhanced cooperation pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2017/1939, the EPPO, and ensure that any third parties involved in the implementation of Union funds grant equivalent rights.

(44) In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Regulation with regard to the specification of data and metadata requirements, technical formats and procedures for data and metadata provision, content and structure of quality reports, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and the Council (30).

(45) Where the implementation of this Regulation, or of the delegated and implementing acts adopted pursuant thereto, would require major adaptations to the national statistical system of a Member State, the Commission should be able, in duly justified cases and for a limited period of time, to grant derogations to the Member States concerned.

(46) Since the objective of this Regulation, namely the systematic production of European statistics on population and housing, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States but can rather, for reasons of consistency and comparability, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 TEU. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.

(47) The European Data Protection Supervisor was consulted in accordance with Article 42(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 and delivered an opinion on 16 March 2023