The European Parliament adopted by 616 votes to 58, with 85 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on European statistics on demography.
The issue had been referred back to the committee responsible during the 18 April 2013 plenary session.
Parliament adopted its position at first reading following the ordinary legislative procedure. The amendments adopted in plenary are the result of a compromise negotiated between the European Parliament and the Council. They amended the proposal as follows:
Gender-disaggregated data and information: as suggested by the European Parliament, the amended text introduced a recital citing the strategic objective of the Beijing Platform for Action (1995) which provides a reference framework for the generation and dissemination of gender-disaggregated data and information, for planning and policy evaluation reasons.
Definitions: the resolution clarified the following definitions:
The term 'usual residence' should be taken to mean the place of legal or registered residence.
Data on population and on vital events: The data provided shall cover population by age, sex and region of residence. The data provided shall cover the following variables:
live births by sex, month of occurrence, live birth-order, mother’s age, mother’s year of birth, mother’s country of birth, mother’s country of citizenship and mother’s region of residence;
deaths by age, sex, year of birth, region of residence, country of birth, country of citizenship and month of occurrence.
Total population for specific Union purposes: Member States should estimate the total population at national level from the legally resident or registered population using scientifically-based, well-documented, and publicly available statistical estimation methods.
Frequency and reference time: each year, Member States should provide the Commission (Eurostat) with data on their population and on their vital events for the previous year and as well as with data on the total population at national level.
The reference date for population data should be the end of the reference period (midnight of 31 December). The first reference date should be in 2013 and the last reference date should be in 2027.
The reference period for vital events data shall be the calendar year in which the events occurred. The first reference period shall be 2013 and the last reference period shall be 2027.
Review Clause: the Commission should submit a first report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the implementation of this Regulation by 31 December 2018, and a second report by 31 December 2023. If appropriate, those reports should be accompanied by proposals designed to further improve the Regulation.