Census in Germany

The first systematic population survey on the European continent was taken in 1719 in the Mark Brandenburg of the Kingdom of Prussia, in order to prepare the first general census of 1725.

In Habsburg ruled Austria, a population count had been introduced in 1754, but due to resistance by nobility and clerics, no full census was held after 1769.

[3] When the German Confederation had been founded in 1815, some states had been anxious to prove they had a small population in order to contribute fewer soldiers to the Federal Army.

[4] The German Customs Union, the Zollverein, conducted population counts from 1834 to 1867, every three years on 3 December, in order to share its revenue among the member states accordingly.

The date of 3 December was chosen as most people of the „Zollabrechnungsbevölkerung“, the custom accounting population, were expected to be at home then.

[5] After the Second World War, the occupying powers started to count the population in their zones, first the Soviets on 1 December 1945, then the French on 26 January 1946.

[10] Many of these areas would later become part of the Second Polish Republic as a result of German territorial losses in the Treaty of Versailles.

In the 1980s, attempts at introducing a census in West Germany sparked strong popular resentment since some felt that the questions to be asked [which?]

Due to reunification and immigration from former Eastern Bloc states and the war-torn Balkans, the population has grown to c. 82 million in the 1990s, but no census has been held since 1987.

Additional data, like information on education, training and occupation, would be collected by an interview-based sample survey.