First all-German census

Now that the U.S. census results of last year have trickled in, Germany is starting its first all-German census today. Other than the ten year rhythm in the United States, the last German ones took place in 1981 in East Germany and 1987 in West Germany where protesters took to the streets, taped the questionnaires to the Berlin wall and burned piles of survey sheets.

This time rigid measures are in place for no one to escape. All Germans' residencies are automatically collected via the Meldeämter -- imagine an office of the registrar as college campuses have it for each community, law demands you register whenever you move -- and Arbeitsagenturen -- the state job agencies which shove unemployed Germans from workshop to workshop.

In a second step, all house and building owners are obligated to answer a survey. Thirdly, a 10% sample of all Germans was picked to represent the rest.

Having been born in East Germany after 1981 and forced to de-register in Germany for living abroad, I happen to escape the questioning so far. In the 2010 U.S. census a survey came to every household, and for the only time ever I filled out such a questionnaire with its concern over ethnicity and color (as I blogged about) -- but only the questions I liked. No one came to check on my compliance, either.

Two thirds of Germans won't notice they are counted. The (un)lucky German picks face a 300 Euro punishment if they resist filling out the four-page sheet per person (predicted to take 15 minutes), and still have to reveal personal data after paying so as not to thwart the representativeness. Only one question is voluntary: religious creed. Other questions concerning the highest level of education, work places past and present, living unmarried with a partner, and actively seeking employment have to be answered. Once the census card with an appointment lands in your mail box, you're in the sample system with the only choice left to answer the questions at the door or filling out the sheet by yourself.

In the United States the census campaign urged people to make sure that your story is heard. Individualism at the forefront; don't let your specialness escape from recording, let your voice be heard. In Germany, the census is sold rationally to the public as an inventory of the nation to better plan kindergartens (urgently needed especially in West Germany) and schools and for the sake of knowing who we are. Beyond, European Union regulations demand participation, as Spiegel writes.

"Statisticians predict that the survey may well reveal the German population is smaller than thought. The statistics office predicts that up to 1.3 million people still counted on regional population tallies may not actually exist. The impact of the new survey may be far reaching as well: The data will be used to determine the flow of funds to each region. In addition, it may affect the number of seats each region can elect during national and European Parliament ballots.

Why that involves living with an unmarried partner or revealing private faith escapes me. Being on the critical side myself and Germans being Germans protest against such invasion of privacy and data protection is pre-programmed. Spiegel (in English) writes:

"Critics argue that the information requested goes further than that the EU specifications. Data protection campaigners also fear that the gathered information may not remain anonymous."

An ARD feature reports that because of numbers assigned to survey participants data could be traced back to individuals even after many years. German daily left-leaning paper Tageszeitung points to a website for people to resist the census by mockingly emulating the census website and warns of Saxonian neo-Nazis intending to volunteer for canvassing to spy on leftists.

But Spiegel remains optimistic and reports that so far no signs of 1987 style protests have met the 80,000 volunteer canvassers. Maybe it's too early to tell? I am in touch with one of the volunteers who has already distributed appointment cards. Tomorrow the first interview is scheduled. How will it go?


A summary by Spiegel Online English of May 9, 2011

A quick summary on public broadcaster ARD (in German, May 4, 2011) with an interview of the President of the German statistical office Berlin-Brandenburg, Ulrike Rockmann