10.3 million randomly selected citizens are asked about the size of their apartment, their school qualifications, employment, and more. Politicians expect the data to improve planning. Skeptics fear government intrusion and misuse of their data.
of data collection and data protection
It tries to dispel any concerns about the lack of data protection. “All citizen data that we receive will not leave this house. We will delete as soon as possible once the data has been evaluated. The state is not interested in individual data from people, but in aggregate results.”
This “return ban” is also the result of the Federal Constitutional Court’s groundbreaking ruling after mass protests against the 1987 census. Therefore, Katja Wilkin does not expect any renewed census resistance.
Her appeal: “It is everyone’s contribution that decisions are made at the political level in a way that is also consistent with their interests.”
Bad data costs citizens dearly.
And how many people actually live in Germany. The last census in 2011 showed that there were 1.4 million fewer people living in Germany than previously assumed. Many municipalities have dead files; People died, and they moved away. But the municipalities were happy to take the money for these citizens.”
His warning: “Bad data is expensive for citizens.”
Census 2022: What does the country want to know and why?
Gisela Steinhauer will discuss this on May 21 from 9.05 a.m. to 11 a.m. with population researchers Rainer Klingholz and Katja Wilkin of the Federal Statistical Office. Listeners can participate by calling 0800 2254 2254 or sending an email to gespraech@deutschlandfunkkultur.de.