A synthetic, robust and efficient method of making small area population estimates in France - ARCHIVED

Since France has no population registers, population censuses are the basis for its socio-demographic information system. However, between two censuses, some data must be updated, in particular at a high level of geographic detail, especially since censuses are tending, for various reasons, to be less frequent. In 1993, the Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques (INSEE) set up a team whose objective was to propose a system to substantially improve the existing mechanism for making small area population estimates. Its task was twofold: to prepare an efficient and robust synthesis of the information available from different administrative sources, and to assemble a sufficient number of "good" sources. The "multi-source" system that it designed, which is reported on here, is flexible and reliable, without being overly complex.