1. The Conference of European Statisticians Recommendations for the 2030 Censuses of Population and Housing are designed to guide countries in preparing and carrying out their population and housing censuses, and to facilitate the comparability of census data by identifying a set of census core topics and by proposing harmonized concepts, definitions and classifications.

2. The Recommendations are also expected to be used as the general framework for the European Union (EU) programme for the 2031 round of population and housing censuses, for which data are to be provided by EU Member States to the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat) under the provisions of Regulation (EC) 763/2008 on population and housing censuses.

3. The present Recommendations were prepared throughout 2022–2024 as part of the work programme of the Conference of European Statisticians (CES) and were endorsed at the 73rd plenary session of the Conference in June 2025. The Statistical Division of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) organized this work in close collaboration with Eurostat and in conjunction with the preparation of the global Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses – Revision 4¹, by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) in New York.

4. The development of these Recommendations aimed to take into account new developments over the past decade in all statistical areas, including relevant statistical domains such as migration, labour and gender; methodological and technological developments impacting census-taking and the dissemination of census data; and societal changes affecting the demand for data on certain topics, the desire for more timely release of census results, the increased expectation of quality metrics and other metadata, and the need for more diverse and targeted communications activities.

5. The CES Steering Group on Population and Housing Censuses coordinated the work of the 13 thematic task forces that were established to prepare drafts of the various chapters covering many parts of the Recommendations. Some parts of the Recommendations, which did not fall within the scope of the task force themes, were revised by the Secretariat under the guidance of the Steering Group.

6. The task forces comprised experts from national statistical offices (NSOs) and international organizations across the UNECE region, as well as some independent experts. To ensure that each country had the opportunity to participate in the discussions on the structure and content of the draft Recommendations, expert meetings were held in 2023 and 2024 in Geneva, Switzerland, to which all countries participating in the work of CES were invited.

7. The first part of this publication, Planning and Conducting the Census gives recommendations relating to the preparation and implementation of all stages of the census cycle. This includes everything from deciding on the high-level census design to be adopted and the specific methodology to be employed; through considerations relating to legislation, technology, data protection, archiving and outsourcing; to guidance on metadata, quality assurance and census costs.

8. New to the Recommendations for the 2030 round, chapters on geospatial information and on emergency management and contingency planning as well as significantly expanded content on dissemination and on communication reflect the changing realities and priorities of censuses in the UNECE region.

9. The second part of the publication, Census Topics, gives recommendations on the content to be collected or compiled as part of the census exercise.

10. The Recommendations include descriptions and definitions of the recommended topics, as well as guidance on matters that may need to be considered, such as specific methodological concerns, and explanations of the relevance of topics and their inter-relationships.

11. Where relevant, recommended classifications are specified. This publication also refers to several national examples illustrating individual countries and their practices or experiences.

12. Topics are designated in these Recommendations as core or non-core on the basis of their relative importance for inclusion in most censuses. Core topics are those generally regarded as essential for providing key information for which there is a high demand in most countries and for which the census is usually the most suitable source. Non-core topics are those whose inclusion may, in general, be considered less vital for collection or compilation in a census, although they may still be essential topics for production as part of a system of national official statistics.

13. The specific national circumstances, in terms of both user demand and production capabilities, mean that this distinction between core and non-core should be regarded as flexible and must be adapted to each country’s situation. The designation of a topic as core implies a strong suggestion on the part of the international expert community that it should be included in most censuses.

14. Depending on their own national circumstances and data requirements, countries may also decide to include in their censuses other topics that are not covered in these Recommendations. Countries should consult the United Nations Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses (see paragraph ‎15 below) for guidance on additional topics not covered in this publication. When opting to include other topics in the census, due consideration must be given to matters such as response burden and possible impacts on overall census data quality (e.g. if sensitive topics are included, or topics requiring proxy response).

15. The planning, research and development that have led to these CES Recommendations took place simultaneously and in close cooperation with the revision of the global Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses coordinated by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), which has been prepared to coincide with the start of the 2030 World Population and Housing Census Programme.

16. While aligned with the Principles and Recommendations to the greatest extent possible, they are intended to reflect the reality and specific needs of countries in the UNECE region. These countries are characterized by a somewhat lower degree of diversity in their population and housing characteristics than can be seen globally; they enjoy a generally high level of economic development, meaning that some topics seen as essential for inclusion in censuses in other world regions are not applicable in this region; and they have, for the most part, relatively advanced statistics systems in which certain topics are sufficiently covered by other statistical activities and do not therefore need to be collected in the census.

17. The two sets of Recommendations are consistent and complementary. The global Recommendations are broader in terms of issues and coverage, while the CES Recommendations are more specific on some definitions and classifications. Where differences are seen, such as in the designation of core or non-core topics or differences in definitions, countries should decide which to follow based on a consideration of which best reflects their own circumstances and needs.

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