Rahvaloendused

Rahvaloendused are official censuses of a country’s population and housing, conducted at defined intervals to gather demographic, social and economic information. The primary purpose is to provide accurate statistics for government planning, policy development, electoral and resource allocation, and social research. A rahvaloendus typically counts everyone present in a country at a specific moment and collects characteristics such as age, sex, nationality, education, occupation, housing type and living conditions. The data enable analysis of population trends, migration, fertility and workforce dynamics.

Methodology varies by country. Traditional rahvaloendused involved direct enumeration through questionnaires delivered door-to-door or by mail. Contemporary practice increasingly relies on administrative registers and digital data sources, often with limited fieldwork, to construct a census or to supplement register-based estimates. This shift aims to improve timeliness and reduce respondent burden while protecting privacy.

In Estonia, rahvaloendused are carried out by Statistics Estonia (Statistikaamet). The Estonian approach emphasizes the use of administrative data and population registers, aligning census statistics with information recorded by government bodies. Censuses are designed to produce aggregated, anonymized results to inform public policy, regional planning and social science research. Access to individual data is tightly regulated to maintain confidentiality.