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The check for multiple registration – in the 2011 Census everyone is counted only once

The official numbers of inhabitants are based on the municipal population registers. However, these registers may contain errors caused, for example, by double registration. The check for multiple registration ensures that all inhabitants are really counted only once in the 2011 Census.

A major data source for determining the official numbers of inhabitants is the municipal population registers. As, however, they are maintained in a decentralised way in every municipality, it may happen that persons are registered with their main or sole residence in several municipalities at the same time. It may also happen that persons are registered only with one or several second residences. The main purpose of the check for multiple registration is to discover and correct such errors. Everyone must be counted with exactly one main or sole residence.

In municipalities with 10,000 or more inhabitants, the register data of people with several main or sole residences were corrected in an automated way. Persons with one or several registered second residences were questioned on their housing status by means of the questionnaire to clarify the residence.

In municipalities with less than 10,000 inhabitants, all people for whom discrepancies in the population registers had been discovered were questioned on their housing status at the address used by means of the questionnaire to clarify the residence. This ensured that all persons for whom implausible data had been found in the population registers were correctly counted and that the results of the survey are included in the calculation of the official number of inhabitants.

Data are not transferred back to the residents’ registration offices or any other authority as this is prohibited.

For detailed information on the check for multiple registration please refer to the paper Methoden der Mehrfachfallprüfung im Zensus 2011 (PDF, 861KB, file not barrier free).

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