fob - Why in the world are we asking that?

The Population and Housing Census will show how people in Norway live. This year's form consists of 29 questions. Statistics Norway has good reasons for asking precisely these questions.

Population censuses have been major events in Norwegian history ever since 1769. They provide society with important information on how people have lived and resided in this country. The responses to the Population and Housing Census are important for providing reliable statistics on how people live and reside in Norway today. The results may also be used to compare Norway with the rest of the world. The Population and Housing Census will also provide important information for future history books.

By replying you are helping to write the history of the Norwegian people in the year 2001. Your answers are important whether you rent or own or live in a modest or grand home.

The form will be addressed to the oldest person in each household according to the National Population Register, but it makes no difference which member of the household fills out the form or whether someone from outside the home does it. Cohabitating couples are likely to receive two forms. Both forms must be returned, but it is sufficient to answer the housing-related questions (questions 4 to 27) on only one of the forms. Question 30 must be answered on both forms.

The form may be returned in the enclosed postage-paid envelope. Or you can fill out the form on the Internet by using your participant number and one of the PIN codes on page 1 of the form. Go to Web form.

The form consists of 29 questions. We have good reasons for asking exactly these questions. By clicking on the questions below, you will find out why Statistics Norway is asking exactly that question:

Why in the world are we asking that?

The addresses on the form were obtained from the National Population Register on 15 September. From the time since Statistics Norway started to print the forms with names and addresses until you fill out the form, around 60 000 people will have moved house.

At the same time, some groups of persons live someplace else than the address listed in the Population Register. A distinction is made between formal and actual address. The formal address is the one listed with the Population Register. The actual address is where you actually live. Usually it is the same address, although some groups have a different actual address from their formal address, such as students, commuters or persons temporarily residing in an institution. In order to generate accurate statistics on Norway, 3 November 2001, Statistics Norway needs to know what your actual home was on 3 November. Since 3 November is a Saturday, for weekly commuters who are home at weekends, the actual addresses will be identical to their formal addresses, namely their home address and not the address of the place they commute to. It is primarily for such groups as students and institutionalised persons that Statistics Norway wants to generate statistics on the basis of the actual address. The address you have currently listed in the National Population Register will not be changed.

Only home addresses in Norway are to be included, so that if you are living abroad exactly on 3 November, but your formal address is otherwise in Norway, it is your home at the address in Norway you are supposed to describe.

If you have reported a change of address to and live abroad, you will not receive a form and are not to be counted in the Population and Housing Census.

If you are a student and on 3 November happen to be at home visiting at your formal address, for example, at your parents' residence, nevertheless, it is your dwelling where you are studying that you are supposed to describe.

Census Day is 3 November. This means that the Population and Housing Census is a "snapshot" of the entire Norwegian society on that very day.

Question 2: Please furnish as much information as you can about the address where you lived on 3 November 2001.

This is a follow-up question to question 1, for those who on 3 November do not live at the address that Statistics Norway has obtained from the National Population Register.

Statistics Norway needs to know the precise address of everyone who has checked off that they have reported or are going to report a change of address, so that it is clear which dwelling you are describing. This applies to those who have moved permanently as well as to those who are away at college or university or live in an institution. Once Statistics Norway learns about where and how students reside, we can generate statistics about housing conditions among students. This will make it easier for politicians to plan housing and other measures that are important for students' living situations.

is only an auxiliary question/guide for completing the rest of the form, the purpose of which is to inform you that it is the dwelling where you actually reside on 3 November that is to be the basis for the responses you provide on the rest of the form.

Question 4. What kind of house or dwelling unit do you live in?

By getting to know the type of dwelling you have, Statistics Norway can generate statistics on how people reside throughout Norway, on what types of dwellings are common and what the differences are between various parts of the country. This information can be compared with results from previous censuses, thus telling us something about the evolution of housing in Norwegian society. This is crucial basis data for planning the homes of the future. International comparisons can also be done, telling us about changes in the housing situation in Norway compared with that in other countries.

Question 5: Have you received an address label with a dwelling unit number for the dwelling in which you lived on 3 November 2001?

During October all flats are to have received their own address. Previously only detached houses or row houses that had their own address, whereas flats shared an address with everyone in the stairwell entrance or building. A flat's address consists of the normal address plus a dwelling unit number. This number has been sent to the unit owner on an address label that is to be affixed inside the door frame of the unit's outer door and is to be entered in question 5.

By entering the dwelling unit number here in question 5, your unique address will be entered into the National Population Register and will thereby be the same as the dwelling unit's address that is already listed in the GAB Register (the Norwegian Mapping Authority's Ground Property, Address and Building Register). This will give Norway a clear and unambiguous address system, something that will save society NOK 2 billion annually (according to an analysis done by SINTEF).

In addition it will be easier for emergency vehicles to find the correct unit if the need should arise.

Question 6: If you have received a sub-number, please specify the sub-number.

If you live at an address that does not have a street address (for instance, a farm) and if you have more than one dwelling on the property, during October you have received a sub-number for each dwelling. This sub-number is in addition to the land registration and property number. The introduction of sub-numbers ensures that all dwellings in Norway have their own address.

Question 7: When was the building or house that you live in built?

Question 8: Can you also specify a more exact year of construction?

How old Norwegian housing is tells us a lot about the need for new construction and rehabilitation, and provides a good picture of the development of Norwegian housing standards over time.

Question 9: Does the building or house have a cellar or ground floor?

Question 10: How many storeys are there in the house or building in which you live?

Question 11: Is there a lift in the building?

A lift and number of storeys tells us whether the dwelling is lifetime-adaptable. Lifetime-adaptable means that the people who live the dwelling can live there all their lives, even if they become physically disabled.

If the dwelling has a lift or only one storey, it is likely that its resident will be able to live there even if he or she becomes physically disabled. Questions 8 and 9 are to be viewed in connection with questions 19 and 20, which deal with the dwelling's accessibility. This data will give municipalities important information about what they have to consider when formulating housing policy, as well as the challenges they face if the age composition in a municipality should change.

Question 12: What kind of ownership or tenancy do you have for the house or dwelling unit in which you live?

When is it common for people to get established and purchase their own home? In which age groups are the most tenants and in which do most people own their own home? This question, like most of the other questions, were included in previous population and housing censuses, and comparing data from previous censuses will tell us about the changing situations of people in the process of getting established. Are people getting established later today than twenty years ago? Do more people in the country own their own homes than in the city? Norway has long distinguished itself internationally in that most people in this country own their own homes. Is this in the process of changing - if so what does this mean for formulating housing policy?

Question 13: Does the dwelling have its own kitchen or kitchenette?

Question 14: How many bedrooms measuring 6 square metres or more does your dwelling have?

These questions have been included in the population censuses almost as long as there have been population censuses in Norway. A kitchen of one's own and the number of bedrooms in proportion to the number of residents reveals a lot about housing standards in Norway, and compared with censuses in other countries tells us a great deal about the development of housing standards globally.

Question 15: How many other day rooms of more than 6 square metres does your dwelling have?

Day rooms are rooms in your dwelling used as living spaces. Entries, storerooms and similar small spaces are not to be counted. Bathrooms and kitchens are not included here either, since they are dealt with in questions 13 and 14. Your responses provide information about how many rooms an average family has as its disposal and how many a single person has, for example. Is the trend of more and more rooms per household continuing, or has it changed in recent years? Can we see from the statistics a tendency for new generations to adopt more Continental habits, whereby travel and nightlife are more important that having a large dwelling?

Question 16: Are any of the rooms that you counted in question 15 only used for business activity?

Do you have a home office, do you have a workshop at home, or have you rented out any rooms for a day care centre?

If you have a home office, which is only used for business purposes, you should answer JA (YES) to this question. But if you also use the home office, workshop or the like privately, the answer is NEI (NO). With the Internet, physical proximity to one's workplace has for some people become less important than previously. This is the first population and housing census to take place since the Internet came into general use. Are we already now able to see that working from home is becoming more common than it was only a decade ago?

Question 17: How many rooms with a bathtub or shower are there in your dwelling?

This is one of the classic questions in all countries with censuses and has been asked for many, many years. Having a separate bathroom with facilities for a shower or tub bath is considered an important indication of one's housing standard.

Question 18: How large is your dwelling?

The size of the dwelling relative to how many live in the dwelling has long been considered important for telling us something about living conditions in Norway. How differently do people live in urban and rural areas in Norway at the turn of the millennium? How has this changed since the previous population and housing census? Do we have more room now than before? What does the fact that more people are living alone mean for the size of Norwegian dwellings? Has the number of square metres per person continued to rise, as it has risen throughout the entire twentieth century?

The responses will provide us all with information about the average floor space for households in all towns and cities, urban districts, municipalities and basic statistical units. They can also tell us about the way various social groups live, such as students, the elderly and families with children, among others.

These responses will also be used in international comparisons and are therefore important data for comparing housing and living conditions in Norway with those in other countries. The information collected will also be important for future understanding of the way we lived and resided in Norway at the beginning of a new millennium.

There are many ways to measure a dwelling's size. Here we are asking for utility floor space, that is, the floor space of the entire dwelling measured on the inside of the outer walls. Do not subtract inside storage areas, etc. For attics (that one does not need a ladder to reach, that is, where there is a permanent stairway), count the part of the attic that is high enough to stand in.

Question 19: Can a wheelchair user enter the dwelling unassisted?

Question 20: After having entered the dwelling, can a wheelchair user use the following unassisted ...

These questions provide information about how many dwellings there are in Norway today that are lifetime-adaptable. For a dwelling to be lifetime-adaptable means that the persons who live in it can use it all their lives, even if they become physically disabled. For a dwelling to be lifetime-adaptable, the door openings must be more than 80 cm wide, the entrance to the dwelling must be without stairs or a step, and the kitchen, bathroom and at least one bedroom must be on the dwelling's entry storey. All these descriptions quickly become very technical, and there may be dwellings that do not meet the technical requirements 100 per cent, but that nevertheless with simple alterations are suitable as being lifetime-adaptable dwellings. Therefore we trust that people's knowledge of their dwellings will give us the best information to enable us to estimate the number of dwellings that are lifetime-adaptable.

When Statistics Norway asks about this in its statistics, it is of course not to see whether those who are living in the dwelling today are still able to live there. That is something they themselves know best. However, it is important to generate statistics on the housing stock's lifetime-adaptability, not least for formulating housing policy in individual municipalities.

Question 21: What kinds of ovens or systems for heating does this dwelling have?

Question 22: Does the dwelling have central heating or is it hooked up to a district heating system?

Question 23: What source of energy is used to heat the dwelling?

Responses to these questions will tell us about the kind of energy consumption we have in Norway today. Parts of these questions were also asked in the 1990 Population and Housing Census. Do the results indicate substantial changes since the previous census? What are the possible consequences of the results for a municipality's environmental policies and the future energy supply situation?

Question 24. How many toilets are there in the dwelling?

Question 25. To what type of sewerage system is your dwelling hooked up?

Reliable data about sewers and discharge is also important for being able to plan proper environmental and discharge policies. In addition the number of toilets tells us something about the dwelling's standard.

Question 26. Have extensive improvements or renovation been carried out after the dwelling was ready to be occupied?

How old the dwelling is does not always present an accurate picture of the dwelling's standard. Some older dwellings have been renovated and improved so that their standard resembles totally new dwellings. What "extensive improvements or renovation" means is a matter of judgement. Total modernisation of a bathroom or kitchen is an extensive renovation, but painting/wallpapering a room or two cannot be considered particularly extensive. By extensive improvements/renovation we primarily mean improvements/renovation that increase the lifetime and value of your dwelling.

Since the housing standard tells us a great deal about the way we live and reside, the response to these questions will show us whether there are vast differences among various regions and various groups in Norway.

Question 27. Do you have access to a... (yard, balcony, garage, parking space)

Information on how many have access to a yard, balcony, garage and parking space tells us something about the dwelling's standard, and it tells us a lot about the area in which it is located. In addition it will provide information about the facilities people prioritise in acquiring, and it may also tell us something about the needs for public green spaces and parking.

Question 28: The family members who are listed below are registered at the same address as you in the National Population Register. a) We would like to know which of these persons lived on 3 November in the dwelling about which you have responded in this questionnaire. b) For those who were living somewhere else on this date: We would like to know if they lived in another dwelling or if they lived on a military base, at a hospital, in a home for the elderly or some other institution.

Questions 29 and 30: Are there any others who lived on 3 November in the dwelling about which you have responded, but who are not included on the list in question 28. Enter the first name, last name, date of birth and relationship that you have to these persons.

A substantial portion of Norwegian and international statistics are generated on the basis of households. The household is the group of people who reside together, whether this consists of someone living alone, a family, cohabitants, an extended family or student collective. Knowledge about the size and composition of Norwegian households is an important starting point for devising family and housing policies, for instance.

Another reason why Statistics Norway is asking these questions is that for students and those residing in institutions in particular there may be a difference between the formal and actual addresses (see the comments on questions 1 and 2). When students state their actual addresses and whom they are living with, we will for the first time be able to generate nationwide statistics on students' housing and living conditions in Norway.

Why in the world don't we ask about ...?

Although it is called the Population and Housing Census, there are not a lot of questions about people. The questions only involve the dwelling and those who reside together in the dwelling. The oldest among us remember previous censuses in which there were a lot of questions about the persons.

However, the form with questions about the dwellings is only a part of the population and housing census. The rest of the census is based on information from various statistical and administrative registers.

After the 1960 Population and Housing Census the National Population Register was established as a central register of all persons living in Norway. That is when we all got our eleven digit personal identity numbers. And it has not become necessary to ask people for information that is already in the National Population Register. Statistics Norway has the right to use the official registers to generate statistics - and that is all. We do not make public information about individuals, but use the data to generate statistics on groups or society as a whole. This makes data gathering less expensive and more efficient, and people no longer need to answer all kinds of questions for statistical purposes because we can obtain the data from official registers.

From these registers Statistics Norway obtains information as of 3 November that provides statistics about people's age, occupation, citizenship, number of children, job, income etc. Together with the replies on the forms this provides a solid basis for writing the history of Norway on 3 November 2001.

This year the Population and Housing Census is the last form-based census in Norway's history. This is because all flats have now got their own address. Therefore Statistics Norway is also able to generate housing statistics on the basis of registers and will no longer need to ask people to fill out forms for conducting population and housing censuses. Finland, Denmark and Iceland have already reached this point. Norway will be the fourth country in the world to conduct population and housing censuses without the use of forms