Register Based Censuses - Side event at the Second Ministerial Conference on

Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Asia and the Pacific, 15 November 2021

Korean Census:
Partly Register-Based Census

Seo-young Kim, Statistics Korea/UNFPA 15 Nov 2021

 History of Korean Population and housing Census
Release 13 census
items, every year
In 2008, officially announced plans to
research & Prepare a new method

1925 1960 From the mid 2000s 2008 2010 2015 2020

1st Population Population and Raising issue on 2020, 2nd Register

Census Housing census census methodology based census
- 1st Housing Census - Quality of census
- Cost-efficiency of census
- The latest result required 2015, 1st Register
based census

Traditional census with Field survey questionnaire 2015 Combing census

short form for entire population + - transit short form items to Registered
data
long form for 10 % sample of households - long form items to still survey data
 Civil registration and Vital statics
Reported for what Birth Death Marriage/divorce
Reported by whom Family,
Parents oneself - 100 % registration completeness
relatives Moving history
- Publish monthly basis with two month lag
in Domestic
- Confirm data at the following year August
Local registration
Applications + attached
offices documents Vital statistics survey

Resident Family
Vital statistic
registration relation
input system
system system
- Impose PID number Create family relation
(resident registration number) register Statistics Korea
- Resident register Submit original applications
to the Ministry of Justice
 Pre-requisites for Register-based census
Administrative Data Collecting & Standardizing Data

Population Register A Law for acquiring the registers

Family-relation Register Standardizing the data for linkage
Housing Register, etc… Selecting the topics using the data

Matching Key National Consensus

Population : Unique ID Mechanism to protect Personal Data

Population & House Approval from People and

: Address (Name, Age, Sex, etc.) Organizations which have registers
 Public approval and Personal data protection
Key elements of the personal data protection strategy

⚫ Reinforce the current privacy clause in statistics law

- Administrative data can be requested for the census
- Personal information protection act regarding ‘partial exemption

⚫ Establish strict regulations for managing the registers

Transform the PID in registers into a virtual number (10 digits) only for statistical use
→ Matching key
PID format : 123456-1234567 includes DOB, SEX, Registered area …

ID is transformed into a 10 digits virtual number

One way encoding (Irrevocable)

• a virtual number can’t be recovered to personal ID.

• after producing a virtual number, Statistics Korea
deletes all personal IDs
 Administrative registers used
Category Administrative Data
Population (Koreans) Resident Register (Population register)
Foreigner Register, Domestic residence register of Koreans having foreign nationality,
Population (Foreigners)
Register of undocumented(short stay) immigrant, Nationality acquisition registry

Supplementing actual School register, Social facility user list, Dormitory (college) user list,
residence Entry and departure register

Family relations register, military register, expatriates in the diplomatic service register, cons
Household cripted police register, conscripted maritime police register, conscripted firefighter register, cor
rectional institution detainee register, juvenile reformatory inmate register

Housing building and dwelling registers, Officially assessed house price,, building energy data

Employment insurance data of the insured, Register of the insured in workplace,

Others
Nursing home user register, Presumed dead person data
 Producing the census data by 25 registers
Population, Household Housing

Koreans Foreigners

Resident Entry and Foreign Entry and Building Publicly announced 2010 Census
registration register departure data register departure data Register Housing price data Data

local de jure population foreign de jure population

(*Excluding the people who residing (foreigner registered and residing
abroad for over 3 months) in Korea for over 3 months) Quarterly data renewal for
construction, alternation
Supplemented by school registers, and demolition
Family relations Total
social facility registers, dormitory
register population
registers, etc

Generating
Household Basic Population and Household data Basic Housing Data

Microdata for Register-based Census

 Conclusion & Challenges
Enhanced quality of Census and reduced census burden
⚫ Minimize duplications or omissions on individuals and provide census, every year, for 13 fundamental items
⚫ Can produce new statistics to support policy making by the register based census
– Multicultural households, single parents, unmarried sing mothers etc.

Disparities between administrative data and survey data

⚫ Postponed using the administrative data for Marital status and Education attainment until 2025,
instead these variables were collected from 20% sample survey

Concerns about administrative data quality

➢ An initial in-depth investigation explored all administrative data and compared their results with the
previous traditional census and other statistics

➢ All items in the register-based census were included in the 20% sample survey to check disparities
➢ Interacted with data providers discussing about data updating period and policy changes, etc.