- Methods and Projects
- Standards and Classifications
Standardised Methodological Report
Continuous Register Statistics
- 1Contact
- 1.1Contact organisation
National Statistics Institute of Spain
- 1.5Contact mail address
Avenida de Manoteras 50-52 - 28050 Madrid
- 1.1Contact organisation
- 2Metadata update
- 2.1Metadata last certified
23/01/2023
- 2.2Metadata last posted
24/01/2023
- 2.3Metadata last update
23/01/2023
- 2.1Metadata last certified
- 3Statistical presentation
- 3.1Data description
The Continuous Municipal Register Statistics make use of the basic variables that the Municipal Register contains, from the file derived from the INE municipal register database, adjusting to the Official Population Figures from the Revision of the Municipal Register.
The population figures of the Municipal Register, referring to 1 January each year, are obtained as set out in the municipal register regulations, and are disseminated by the INE once the Royal Decree passing them has been published in the BOE.
The data on the population resident in Spain at 1 January each year is provided, according to the following classification variables: place of residence, sex, age, nationality and place of birth.
The data on place of residence is provided for different territorial breakdown levels: national, Autonomous Community, province, municipality and census section.
Registration in the Municipal Register has only the following data on each neighbour as compulsory:
a) Name and Surnames
b) Sex
c) Regular Address
d) Nationality
a) Place and Date of Birth
f) National Identity Document Number, or in the case of foreign nationals, the corresponding document.
c) School or academic certificate or qualification
- 3.2Classification system
- Comunidades y Ciudades Autónomas
01 Andalucía
02 Aragón
03 Asturias, Principado de
04 Balears, Illes
05 Canarias
06 Cantabria
07 Castilla y León
08 Castilla - La Mancha
09 Cataluña
10 Comunitat Valenciana
11 Extremadura
12 Galicia
13 Madrid, Comunidad de
14 Murcia, Región de
15 Navarra, Comunidad Foral de
16 País Vasco
17 Rioja, La
18 Ceuta
19 Melilla
- Comunidades y Ciudades Autónomas
- 3.3Sector coverage
It includes all those persons registered in Spain. Law 7/1985, Regulating the Law on Local Ordinances, establishes the compulsory nature of registering all persons living in Spain in the Municipal Register, not making any distinction due to nationality, nor requiring legal residence in Spain.
- 3.4Statistical concepts and definitions
- Age
Age in years refers to the number of birthdays reached by the reference date, in other words, the age last birthday.
- Citizenship
Citizenship is defined as the particular legal bond between an individual and his/her State,, acquired by birth or naturalisation, whether by declaration, option, marriage or other means according to the national legislation.
- Place of birth
Place where a person was born, in other words, the place of habitual residence of the mother at the time of birth, determined on the date of collecting data.
- Regular residence according to Municipal Register
Place where a person normally spends his or her daily rest period, regardless of temporary absences for leisure purposes, holidays, visiting friends or relatives, business, medical treatment or religious pilgrimage.
- Resident population
The population resident in a given geographical scope is defined as those persons who, on the reference date, have established their usual residence therein.
- Sex
Sex refers to the biological sex of the person. According to the WHO, "sex" refers to biological and physiological features defining to men and women, whereas "gender" refers to the roles, behaviour, activities and attributes constructed socially that a specific culture regards as appropriate for men and women. In accordance with this description, the WHO regards "man" and "woman" as sex categories, whereas "male" and "female" are gender categories.
- Age
- 3.5Statistical unit
The basic unit of the statistics is the person resident in Spain and registered in the INE municipal register database.
- 3.6Statistical population
The target population of study of the statistics are all those persons registered in Spain.
- 3.7Reference area
The statistics cover the whole of the national territory. Data is published on a national level, by Autonomous Community, and by province, municipality and census section.
- 3.8Time coverage
The figures are obtained annually, with the reference date being 1 January each year, with the results available as of the year 1998. Also available is the data from the Renewal of the Municipal Register on 1 May 1996.
- 3.9Base period
The series begins with the data from 1 January 1998.
- 3.1Data description
- 4Unit of measure
- 4.1Unit of measure
Number of persons.
- 4.1Unit of measure
- 5Reference period
- 5.1Reference period
1 January each year
Data referred to the period: Anual A: 2022
- 5.1Reference period
- 6Institutional mandate
- 6.1Legal acts and other agreements
The compilation and dissemination of the data are governed by the Statistical Law No. 12/1989 "Public Statistical Function" of May 9, 1989, and Law No. 4/1990 of June 29 on “National Budget of State for the year 1990" amended by Law No. 13/1996 "Fiscal, administrative and social measures" of December 30, 1996, makes compulsory all statistics included in the National Statistics Plan. The National Statistical Plan 2009-2012 was approved by the Royal Decree 1663/2008. It contains the statistics that must be developed in the four year period by the State General Administration's services or any other entity dependent on it. All statistics included in the National Statistics Plan are statistics for state purposes and are obligatory. The National Statistics Plan 2021-2024, approved by Royal Decree 1110/2020, of 15 December, is the Plan currently implemented. This statistical operation has governmental purposes, and it is included in the National Statistics Plan 2021-2024. (Statistics of the State Administration).
The INE is obligated, by Law (article 17.3 of Law 7/1985, Regulating the Law on Local Ordinances) to submit the proposal of official population figures for Spanish municipalities to the National Government, for approval, based on the coordination carried out by the Municipal Registers.
The procedure for obtaining the population figures resulting from the Municipal Register Revision at 1 January contains different phases, and is regulated in the Resolution dated 20 July 2018, of the Presidency of the National Statistics Institute and the Directorate General for Regional and Local Cooperation, dictating technical instructions to the Municipal Councils regarding the annual revision of the Municipal Register and about the procedure for obtaining the proposal for official population figures. - 6.2Data sharing
The exchanges of information needed to elaborate statistics between the INE and the rest of the State statistical offices (Ministerial Departments, independent bodies and administrative bodies depending on the State General Administration), or between these offices and the Autonomic statistical offices, are regulated in the LFEP (Law of the Public Statistic Function). This law also regulates the mechanisms of statistical coordination, and concludes cooperation agreements between the different offices when necessary.
.
- 6.1Legal acts and other agreements
- 7Confidentiality
- 7.1Confidentiality - policy
The Statistical Law No. 12/1989 specifies that the INE cannot publish, or make otherwise available, individual data or statistics that would enable the identification of data for any individual person or entity. Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society
- 7.2Confidentiality - data treatment
INE provides information on the protection of confidentiality at all stages of the statistical process: INE questionnaires for the operations in the national statistical plan include a legal clause protecting data under statistical confidentiality. Notices prior to data collection announcing a statistical operation notify respondents that data are subject to statistical confidentiality at all stages. For data processing, INE employees have available the INE data protection handbook, which specifies the steps that should be taken at each stage of processing to ensure reporting units' individual data are protected. The microdata files provided to users are anonymised.
The Continuous Municipal Register Statistics are a statistical operation included in the National Statistical Plan, therefore subject to the Law on Public Statistical Services dated 9 May 1989, and therefore, their data is protected by Statistical Secrecy at all stages of their compilation.
The microdata disseminated is anonymised, and the codes of the municipalities with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants are concealed.
- 7.1Confidentiality - policy
- 8Release policy
- 8.1Release calendar
The advance release calendar that shows the precise release dates for the coming year is disseminated in the last quarter of each year.
- 8.2Release calendar access
The calendar is disseminated on the INEs Internet website (Publications Calendar)
- 8.3User access
The data are released simultaneously according to the advance release calendar to all interested parties by issuing the press release. At the same time, the data are posted on the INE's Internet website (www.ine.es/en) almost immediately after the press release is issued. Also some predefined tailor-made requests are sent to registered users. Some users could receive partial information under embargo as it is publicly described in the European Statistics Code of Practice
- 8.1Release calendar
- 9Frequency of dissemination
- 9.1Frequency of dissemination
The data is disseminated annually.
- 9.1Frequency of dissemination
- 10Accessibility and clarity
- 10.1News release
The results of the statistical operations are normally disseminated by using press releases that can be accessed via both the corresponding menu and the Press Releases Section in the web
- 10.2Publications
The results of the statistics are disseminated via the INE website.
A press release is disseminated when the Preview with provisional data is published.
- 10.3On-line database
INEbase is the system the INE uses to store statistical information on the Internet. It contains all the information the INE produces in electronic formats. The primary organisation of the information follows the theme-based classification of the Inventory of Statistical Operations of the State General Administration . The basic unit of INEbase is the statistical operation, defined as the set of activities that lead to obtaining statistical results on a determined sector or subject based on the individually collected data. Also included in the scope of this definition are synthesis preparation.
Both provisional and final data may be accessed through www.ine.es/en/ at the following link:
AC1=1.083.784
- 10.4Micro-data access
A lot of statistical operations disseminate public domain anonymized files, available free of charge for downloading in the INE website Microdata Section
The microdata files are available on the INE website, so that users may download them for free. The data is anonymised, and information is provided on the following variables:
- Province and municipality of residence
- sex
- province and municipality of birth
- nationality
- age
- size of the municipality of residence
- size of the municipality of birth
Due to confidentiality, the codes of those municipalities with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants are concealed. - 10.5Other
Interested users may request specific customised information uses, which in all cases maintain the confidentiality of the data, through the Customer service area, at the following link:
- 10.6Documentation on methodology
- 10.7Quality documentation
Quality studies or reports are not available. Nonetheless, fields 10.6 to 17 of this file may be considered the quality report for this operation intended for users.
- 10.1News release
- 11Quality management
- 11.1Quality assurance
Quality assurance framework for the INE statistics is based on the ESSCoP, the European Statistics Code of Practice made by EUROSTAT. The ESSCoP is made up of 16 principles, gathered in three areas: Institutional Environment, Processes and Products. Each principle is associated with some indicators which make possible to measure it. In order to evaluate quality, EUROSTAT provides different tools: the indicators mentioned above, Self-assessment based on the DESAP model, peer review, user satisfaction surveys and other proceedings for evaluation.
The compilation process of the statistics has established controls for detecting and correcting errors, for the purpose of guaranteeing the quality thereof. The volume of errors detected in small, and the percentage of record in which corrections are performed for any of their variables reaches approximately 0.3%.
In order to detect these errors, contrasts are made of the information appearing in the Municipal register relating to each inhabitant with the data from the DNIs of Spaniards and data from the NIEs of foreign nationals provided by the Home Office for the coordination of the municipal registers and notification to the municipal councils, introducing corrections in the sex variable, and in the date of birth in the case of persons 100 years of age and over. - 11.2Quality assessment
The data comes from the Municipal Registers of Inhabitants, which are the administrative registers that each Municipal Council manages, and in which, and continuous process of data updating and filtering is performed.
The INE is responsible for the coordination of these municipal registers, and is in charge of avoiding duplicities, among other tasks.
The main advantage of these statistics is that, on obtaining the data from a register, the information for all of the variables for each inhabitant is available, and therefore, data can be obtained with all the desired crossings of variables. Likewise, as the exact address for each person is included, it would also be possible to break the information down to any territorial level.
The only variable for which data is not published at this time is the educational level, as it has a low degree of reliability.
- 11.1Quality assurance
- 12Relevance
- 12.1User needs
The specific needs of users are considered when expanding the information offered on the website with new tables or data files, always respecting statistical confidentiality.
Users include:
· Ministries and other public bodies
· Territorial Administrations (Autonomous Communities, provincial delegations, municipal councils)
· Universities and research centres
· Businesses
· The press and specialised media
· Individuals
· Other INE units
· The Congress and the Senate: parliamentary matters
· International organisations: Eurostat, OECD, etc.
These needs are focused on ascertaining the structure of the population, and are differentiated according to the territorial breakdown level required (national, Autonomous Community, province, municipality or census section) and the variables needed in each case (distribution according to sex, age, nationality, etc.)
On some occasions, it is not possible to answer the information requests of users, due to the need to safeguard statistical secrecy. On some occasions, the requests refer to population figures with different reference dates throughout the year, and cannot be answered, as by law, the Revision of the municipal registers from which the official population figures are derived must be carried out on 1 January each year.
- 12.2User satisfaction
The INE has carried out general user satisfaction surveys in 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016 and 2019 and it plans to continue doing so every three years. The purpose of these surveys is to find out what users think about the quality of the information of the INE statistics and the extent to which their needs of information are covered. In addition, additional surveys are carried out in order to acknowledge better other fields such as dissemination of the information, quality of some publications...
On the INE website, in its section Methods and Projects / Quality and Code of Practice / INE quality management / User surveys are available surveys conducted to date.(Click next link)
In the 2016 User Satisfaction Survey the assessment of the quality of the "Population" sector was 4.04 out of 5.
- 12.3Completeness
All of the information required is available, according to the relevant guidelines and regulations. Therefore, the rate of compulsory information available is 100%.
R1=100%
- 12.1User needs
- 13Accuracy and reliability
- 13.1Overall accuracy
The global reliability of the statistics is conditioned by the base file that is used, which comes from the coordination of the municipal registers.
- 13.2Sampling error
Sampling errors do no occur, as this is the direct use of a register.
- 13.3Non-sampling error
The data is from an administrative register, and all of the accepted units have information, with a possible existence of some occasional errors affecting the sex variable in approximately 0.3% of the records, and which are filtered in the different phases.
Regarding the register coverage, for Spaniards, it is considered that the incidence of omissions is very small, as registration is a requirement for many administrative processes.
Regarding over-coverage, in the case of Spaniards who transfer from Spain to locations abroad, this appears in the Municipal Register only if they register in the Consular Registers, which does not always occur, and therefore, they may continue to appear as residents in Spain, when they actually reside abroad.
As per foreign nationals who leave Spain and transfer to other countries, depending on whether or not they are community nationals, and according to the type of residence permit they have, they may remain registered in the Municipal Register for 2 or 5 years (according to the case), until a process for delisting by expiry is applied (for non-community citizens and those without permanent residence permits, ENCSARP) or delisting due to undue registration (for the rest, NO_ENCSARP).
A4=0
- 13.1Overall accuracy
- 14Timeliness and punctuality
- 14.1Timeliness
In the month of April in year t, provisional data is published, whose reference date is 1 January for year t.
The final data is published in the month of January of year t+1, that is, following a 12-month period.
TP1=3 months
TP2=12 months
- 14.2Punctuality
The dissemination of the data is carried out in accordance with the structural statistics availability calendar that the INE compiles and publishes for each year.
TP3=0
- 14.1Timeliness
- 15Coherence and Comparability
- 15.1Comparability - geographical
All the data is comparable for any territorial breakdown, as it all comes from the municipal registers, which are governed by the same regulations, and which are coordinated by the INE.
- 15.2Comparability - over time
The data from the statistics is comparable as of 1998, which are the figures already obtained at 1 January each year, using the implementation of the new municipal register management system, and therefore, the number of comparable elements from the time series is 25.
CC2=25
- 15.3Coherence - cross domain
The figures from the Continuous Municipal Register Statistics coincide with the figures from the Official Population Figures, given that they use the same source, and they are the result of the same procedure.
However, there are differences between the figures obtained in the Population Now Cast and those from the Population Censuses, which are justified by the different methodologies followed. Some of the differences with the figures from the Population Censuses are also due to the fact that they have different reference dates.
The Continuous Municipal Register Statistics are not totally coherent with the Residential Variation Statistics, given that, though both are derived from the same source, the INE municipal register database, they are based on different methodologies.
- 15.4Coherence - internal
All of the results are obtained from an administrative register, and they are coherent amongst themselves.
- 15.1Comparability - geographical
- 16Cost and burden
- 16.1Cost and burden
Given that the figures are obtained directly from the INE municipal register database, there are no costs associated with the collection, nor is there a response burden.
The estimation of the budgetary credit necessary to finance these statistics, as foreseen in the 2022 Annual Programme, comes to a total of 74,55 thousand euros.
- 16.1Cost and burden
- 17Data revision
- 17.1Data revision - policy
The INE of Spain has a policy which regulates the basic aspects of statistical data revision, seeking to ensure process transparency and product quality. This policy is laid out in the document approved by the INE board of directors on 13 March of 2015, which is available on the INE website, in the section "Methods and projects/Quality and Code of Practice/INE’s Quality management/INE’s Revision policy" (link).
This general policy sets the criteria that the different type of revisions should follow: routine revision- it is the case of statistics whose production process includes regular revisions-; more extensive revision- when methodological or basic reference source changes take place-; and exceptional revision- for instance, when an error appears in a published statistic-.
Some preview results are disseminated on national, Autonomous Community and provincial levels in the month of April of the reference year of the data. The final results, with breakdowns to the municipality and census section levels, are published in the month of January the following year, and this data is no longer revised.
- 17.2Data revision - practice
Provisonal data are published in April of the reference year.
The differences that may ocurr with the final data, wich will be published in January of year t+1, are due to the process of repairs and claims with the municipal councils, carried out in accordance with the Resolution of 20 July 2018, of the Presidency of the National Statistics Institute and the Directorate General for Regional and Local Cooperation, dictating technical instructions to the Municipal Councils, regarding the annual revision of the Municipal Register, and regarding the procedure for obtaining the proposal of official population figures.
The President of the INE, with the favourable report of the Registration Council, sends the National Government the proposal of official population figures from the Spanish municipalities, for approval via Royal Decree, which is published in the Official State Gazette.
A6-MAR=39.823 (difference between final population figure and provisional figure)
A6-RMAR=0,08% (percentage difference between final population figure and provisional figure)
- 17.1Data revision - policy
- 18Statistical processing
- 18.1Source data
The data from the statistics is obtained from the information that the citizens fill out in the Municipal register.
The Municipal register is an administrative register where the neighbours of the municipality are recorded. All persons living in Spain are obligated to register in the Municipal Register of the municipality where they regularly reside. Persons who live in several municipalities must register only in that in which they reside the longest during the year.
The municipal councils are responsible for the preparation, updating, revision and supervision thereof, as they must perform the actions and operations necessary for the data in their Municipal registers to coincide with reality.
The municipal councils manage the Municipal registers by computer, and in those cases in which they lack the means of doing so, the registers are managed by the Provincial Delegations.By extension, the database comprising all of the municipal register files is known as the Continuous Municipal Register of the INE.
- 18.2Frequency of data collection
Law 7/1985, of 2 April, Regulating the Law on the Local Ordinances and the Population and Territorial Demarcation Regulation of Local Entities, establish that the Municipal Councils must submit those monthly variations that occur in the data in their Municipal registers to the National Statistics Institute, by computer or telematic media, so that the INE, in compliance with its obligations as set out in article 17.3 of the aforementioned Law on Local Ordinances, may perform the corresponding verifications for the purpose of correcting possible errors and avoiding duplicities, and so that the official figures resulting from the annual revisions may be declared official.
- 18.3Data collection
The municipal councils are in charge of keeping their municipal registers permanently updated, with the data stated by citizens, and they must carry out the updates and operations that are necessary for the data in their municipal registers to coincide with reality.
Likewise, each month, the municipal councils must send the INE all of the variations occurring therein (registrations, delistings and modifications), with the INE being in charge of the coordination of all of the municipal registers, so as to avoid duplicities occurring among the different municipal registers. - 18.4Data validation
The Municipal register is a permanently updated register from which data is obtained in order to compile the Continuous Municipal Register Statistics. As it is a register, all of the units considered contain information on all of the variables for each inhabitant.
In some occasional cases, certain invalid values may appear in the nationality and place of birth variables, to which an imputation process is applied, when the information is not found in other administrative registers.
A process is also carried out in order to detect possible incoherences in the sex variable, and the date of birth variable, contrasting with sources from the Home Office.
- 18.5Data compilation
The file from which the official population figures are obtained is filtered for the variables that are considered in the statistical use, so that no invalid values appear.
A filtering is also performed on the census section level, which enables providing information on the population for levels that are lower than the municipality level.
- 18.6Adjustment
Neither seasonal adjustments are made, nor are there decompositions of time series nor other similar methods.
- 18.1Source data
- 19Comment
- 19.1Comment
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- 19.1Comment
Contact