Sčítání lidu, domů a bytů 2001 - Pardubický kraj
Preface
Every ten years, the population and housing census becomes the largest statistical survey organized pursuant to international agreements in an absolute majority of countries all over the world. It enjoys a very long history. For population censuses were conducted in antiquity and, primarily for military and taxation purposes, in Middle Ages too. The beginning of regular modern-type censuses in our countries dates back to 1869, and time series showing development trends of the population in detailed geographical breakdown have been kept since. Since the Czechoslovak Republic came into being, the censuses were regularly conducted every decade, with the exception of the year 1940. So the 2001 census has already been the eighth in succession. However, it was the first to have been taken after the rise of the independent Czech Republic. Thanks to the stability of the methodological basis, we may use the census results to assess long-term influences of demographic, social and economic processes our country has gone through. The fact that the latest census gives a picture of the structure of society for the first time in methodology comparable with European standards makes this event even more significant.
The population and housing census is a basic demographic source of data on population and their structure (age, education, religion), economic activity and movement for work, as well as on the structure of households. At the same time the census takes stocks of houses and dwellings not only in terms of numbers but also quality, amenities and equipment. Last but not least it is an irreplaceable source of information about certain components of the living standard of population, household amenities, facilities and equipment, and housing standard too. There is no other way to find this information in such complexity.
To get valuable information in as large geographical detail as possible (municipalities, municipality parts or basic settlement units) is another invaluable merit of the census. This permits compiling data in virtually any territorial units. There is no other statistical survey that would lead to such detailed data.
The census employs a self-reporting method – i.e. the citizen fills in the census questionnaire for himself or herself. So the census result is largely dependent on how conscientiously the questionnaire is filled in by the citizen. Although a special census law governed the census, the population did not show confidence in it, especially in the preparatory stage. The considerably negative campaign in media caused the non-response to rise in comparison with the previous census, primarily where questions about economic activity were asked. Nevertheless, the results show that an overwhelming majority of the citizens were not influenced and answered the questions responsibly, for which we thank them very much.
Of course, thanks also go to representatives of individual municipalities, who were helping us efficiently in the preparation and the course of this event, the staff of cadastral offices, with whom we produced reliable map documents for the first time in the history of the country, and thousands of enumerators and supervisors in charge of contacts with households and ensuring the primary processing of preliminary results.
The results of the Population and Housing Census held on 1 March 2003 have been released step by step. Publications with preliminary data produced by manual summarization of chosen indicators directly from the census questionnaires were put out in all districts and regions and at the national level as early as July 2001. This was followed by the machine processing of enormous amounts of data (using the optical character recognition method for the first time) and by detailed checks. July 2002 saw selected definitive data broken down as low as the municipality level out on the CZSO internet website. This year, detailed definitive results for both the Czech Republic (over twenty theme-oriented publications) and in the regional breakdown have been gradually processed and brought out. This closes the main stage of the processing and publishing of the census results. However, we are going to continue to use this abundance of information in various thematic studies.
The authors of this publication endeavoured to primarily submit to the user an analysis of the census results covering the whole region, also with a view to different developments in the individual regions. Detailed data broken down by administrative districts of municipalities with extended competence are brought out here for the first time. It was impossible to squeeze into the book the whole of the pool of information in its smallest territorial details. Responding to the user’s wish, however, we can prepare any breakdown and any selections of data from our databases, understandably while strictly observing the principle of individual data protection. The publication also includes graphs and cartograms that compare developments within the region and the areas. The published data (mostly comparable in terms of territory and contents with the results of the previous censuses) allow us to evaluate the development not only over last decade but also even over last forty years as far as some indicators are concerned.
Similar publications whose contents of the analytical and tabular parts are standardized are brought out for all the regions of the Czech Republic. They follow up the district-focused materials published before, in which emphasis was placed on the extensive data part. All of the released data are available on the CD attached to this publication.
We believe that these publications will help satisfy the growing demand for regional data (from the newly established regional governments, Eurostat, EU bodies, etc.) and inspire professional and general public to raise their interest in statistical services.
Publishing extracts from this book is possible, except for commercial purposes, on condition that a reference to their sources is made. Quotations may only be published, if the source „Population and Housing Census 2001 – Pardubický Region“ and the origin of statistics contained in it are given.
The following symbols have been used throughout:
The symbol of dash (-) in place of a figure indicates that the phenomenon did not occur.
The symbol of dot (.) shows that the figure is not available or cannot be relied on.
The symbol of horizontal small cross (x ) shows that the figure is not applicable.
The symbol of (0) used in table designates figures smaller than a half of the unit of measure chosen.
The calculations in the tables are performed using unrounded figures (including the sums).
The data are definitive.