Numbering same-sex couples in censuses and population registers

Abstract

The recommendations recently issued by the Conference of European Statisticians (CES) for the next round of population and housing censuses underline for the first time that some countries might find it in their interest to enumerate same-sex couples. Many pitfalls can be expected when such a sensitive topic is newly included in a census. The experience of the few western countries that have already taken initiatives in this direction helps identify difficulties to be faced and suggest "good practices" to be adopted. Coverage is extended to countries which rely on permanent registers rather than periodic censuses to enumerate their population.

Keywords

• censuses
• population registers
• same-sex couples