New method of collecting data on households and families

The Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia publishes data on households and families for total population of Slovenia as of 1 January 2011 for the first time on the basis of administrative sources. So far data on households and families for total population have been collected only by conventional (field) censuses (the last one with the reference date of 31 March 2002). The primary source is the Household Register, maintained by the Ministry of the Interior, auxilary source are the Central Population Register data on spouses and biological ties between parents and children.

The new statistical definition of household

The basic concepts of the new definition of private household and of the statistical derivation of families in the scope of household are:

• The usual residence was defined according to the new definition of population (introduced in 2009), based on permanent and/or temporary residence in Slovenia.
• The households (i.e. persons with the same household number living at the same address) were self-declared and entered in the Household Register.
• The relation to the reference person of the household is in line with the entry in the Household Register.
• Dwellings in multi-dwelling buildings are numbered in the Central Population Register.
• Data, determining spouses and biological ties between parents and children, exist in the Central Population Register.
• Statistical methods are used for determining households and families.

Use of the previously valid definition of a household, based on economic criteria (sharing income for covering the basic costs of living), has been discontinued. According the new definition, a (private) household is a group of population (or resident living alone) living in the same dwelling with the same household number.

The statistical definition of a family is harmonized with international recommendations

The statistical definition of a family has not been changed since the 2002 Census and it is harmonized with the international recommendations for the 2010 Census round and with the EU Regulation on population and housing censuses. A family (nucleus) is thus defined in the narrow sense as two or more persons who live in the same private household and who are related as:

• Parents (one or both) and children who live with both or one of the parents. The age of children is not limited, however they must not have their own families or live in consensual unions;
• A married man and woman;
• Partners who live in a consensual union.

This concept of a family thus limits the relationships between children and adults to direct (first-degree) relationships. If there are three or more generations in a household, the family formation starts at the bottom at the youngest generation. In case of a father, a daughter and a granddaughter, the lone mother family members are daughter and granddaughter, while the father is a non-family member of the household.