If you want to make reality comprehensible and comparable, you need a plan. And so it is fitting that the data collectors who were commissioned to carry out the census in Bavaria in 1970 were accompanied by clear instructions. Even the choice of writing instrument is predetermined. According to a contemporary report, the answers on the A4 paper questionnaire were marked with a “soft pencil”. In addition, the “identification number” in the upper right-hand corner of the sheet “is to be put by the meter in his thesis, sorted according to households, on an order paper designated as a meter list”.
Sounds complex? It was – and basically has remained so to this day. Because similar to back then, Bayern has another statistical mega-project in the house. Thousands of people from Aschaffenburg to Berchtesgaden will therefore soon receive mail in preparation for the Day of Questions. Because May 15 is the census deadline – and the start of data collection that only occurs every ten years. For the household surveys planned for the census alone, there are 550,000 addresses in the sample in Germany, “at which around 2.3 million people are registered,” according to a current monthly letter from the State Office for Statistics. “That’s about 18 percent of the population.” 20,000 mostly honorary “survey officers” are responsible for conducting the interviews.
Even in terms of personnel, the federal and state governments are making a huge effort to get an up-to-date picture of the local conditions; about how people live, live and work and what that can mean for political decisions. Nevertheless, the procedure can seem almost handy compared to those of previous Bavarian censuses. Because nowadays statisticians obtain a lot of data from administrative databases, for example from the population registers of the municipalities. They also use other statistical methods, which is why, in contrast to the classic census, only part of the population is surveyed in the census.
The first census dates back to 1771
In 1970, on the other hand – according to the report mentioned above – a “countering army” of more than 100,000 people had to be “mobilized” in Bavaria alone. They all carried the so-called counting papers into the households and businesses and collected them again a few days later, ideally filled out. After all, checking the thousands upon thousands of sheets with their thousands upon thousands of answers should make it easier for new technology, more precisely the “IBM 360 electronic data processing system”. The computing power of this computer cabinet is manageable by modern standards, but it meant progress.
In any case, the beginnings of official statistics seem tough. The first comprehensive population census in Bavaria dates back to 1771 and Johann Nepomuk Joseph von Dachsberg. His “folk description” dragged on for a decade. The reforms of Count Montgelas then produced statistical annual reports and censuses from 1809 onwards. The data collected according to uniform guidelines helped govern the country from Munich.
The local authorities were entrusted with the counting in the first decades – and they were not always happy about the time-consuming work. A lack of data protection caused additional complexity. Since the local officials were not only responsible for data collection but also for administration, apparently not all respondents wanted to rely on the fact that their information really remained anonymous. The result: the population, fearing higher taxes, made incorrect statements, noted Friedrich Benedikt Wilhelm von Herman, head of the Royal Bavarian Statistical Bureau since 1839. Data protection was to play a decisive role more than 200 years later, in the nationwide census planned for 1983. Concern about becoming a “transparent citizen” led to protests and a successful constitutional complaint. As a result, the authorities had to take more measures to anonymize the questionnaires, among other things.
Today, many people voluntarily go glassy when surfing, chatting and shopping on the Internet. At the same time, digitization offers the opportunity to keep the great expense of analogue times at least a little smaller. In the so-called census of buildings and apartments – like the household survey, an important part of the 2022 census – homeowners can answer the questions online. However, the help is not really voluntary, the census law obliges you to answer. For the thousands of Bavarians who will find a corresponding letter in their mailbox, there is therefore hardly any escape from the Day of Questions.