Autores: Diego Aboal[1] y Federico Segui[2]
Publicado en: Documento de Trabajo CINVE 03/ 2025 ISSN: 1688-6183
Abstract
Uruguay’s 2023 Combined Census pioneered a hybrid methodology that merged traditional field enumeration with administrative register data to achieve a more complete population count. This article analyzes the institutional, legal, and technical conditions that enabled Uruguay’s success – including a strong legal mandate for data sharing, a robust unique ID system, and an integrated data infrastructure – and details the methods and outcomes of the combined census. Approximately 10% of Uruguay’s population was added via administrative enumeration – real individuals from administrative records – to compensate for non-response or omissions in the field. This approach, inspired by Statistics New Zealand’s 2018 combined census model, allowed Uruguay to avoid the need for “synthetic” imputation of missing persons by using verified administrative data. The results show improved coverage and reduced bias. We present comparative analyses with New Zealand’s experience, illustrate the coverage gains from administrative data inclusion, and discuss how Uruguay’s use of “Signs of Life” indicators, administrative residence construction, and the SIREE platform for data linkage ensured data quality. International peer reviews by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) and Statistics Norway affirm Uruguay’s innovative strategy as a replicable model for countries lacking a central population register, highlighting the importance of legal frameworks, inter-agency cooperation, and public trust in enabling register-based censuses.
Keywords: Combined census; administrative data; register-based census; population statistics; official statistics; data integration; coverage evaluation; signs of life model; unique ID systems; data quality; census methodology; Uruguay.
JEL Classification: C80; C82; J11; H83; O54.
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[1] Centro de Investigaciones Económicas, Montevideo, Uruguay y Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Administración, Universidad de la República, Uruguay. Corresponding author: aboal@cinve.org.uy.
[2] Member of the Executive Committee of the International Association for Official Statistics (IAOS). The views expressed in this document are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the institutions with which he is affiliated.