The National Statistics Office has launched a public consultation on 5 May 2020 whereby stakeholders were invited to send their proposals for additional themes and questions that could potentially be included in the Census. This stage is essential to ensure that the needs of users are carefully considered. Various proposals were received from different organisations and individuals which were independently reviewed. Such proposals, however, had to be balanced by issues of response burden, cost-effectiveness, data quality and above all, the need to keep the questionnaire to a reasonable length. Written submissions had to be sent by Sunday 31 May 2020.

The questionnaire aims to collect key socio-economic information, in line with national legislation – Census Act 1948 and EU regulatory requirements – Regulation (EC) No 763/2008, as well as the recommendations, concepts and definitions on population censuses made by the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The EU Regulation currently covers the topics in the list attached to the Press Information Notice. These topics cover 70 key variables of which 30 focus on housing.

A preliminary report featuring the main demographic variables (among which: sex, age, nationality and citizenship) will be published in the first quarter of 2022. A detailed analysis covering all population and housing variables collected in the Census will be released in thematic publications starting from the last quarter of 2022. The geospatial theme will cut across population, housing and related social and economic themes.

The Date of the Census of Population and Housing 2021 was changed to 21 November 2021.