The French Rolling Census : a decade of experience

Since 2004, France has replaced the traditional form of the census by a rolling census, with the goal of producing annually updated information at local levels as well as to spread the cost of the census over the years. Almost ten years later, a review of new census can be made. The new French census reached most of its goals and publishes good quality results every year. However, some difficulties inherent to annual data collection are faced: costs are directly proportional to the size of the population and are rising accordingly, and data processing workload is not decreasing after years. Several improvements are planned, such as collecting data via the Internet and building a database of dwellings. The paper describes the methodology of the French rolling census, the information produced, and the assessment of the operation after one decade, in addition to the new developments planned.