EAR : The Annual Population Census survey - 2024
Data description
The data collected relate to the characteristics of:
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of the individual: sex, age, marital status, place of birth, nationality, place of study, diplomas, previous place of residence (one year before), job, socio-professional category, economic activity sector, place of work, etc.;
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the household: composition, size, family ties, number of cars, etc.;
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of the dwelling: type, year of completion, size, type of occupation, HLM, heating, bathroom, sewage disposal, year of move-in, parking,etc.
Sector coverage
Jobs are mainly distributed according to:
- the sector of activity of the NAF 2008 in 5, 17 or 38 items;
- the socio-professional category of the PCS 2020 in 6 or 29 items;
- working hours, status (employee or self-employed), employment conditions (trainee, fixed-term contract, permanent contract, etc.).
Statistical concepts and definitions
Employment : In the census, employed persons can be counted at their place of residence or at their place of work. At the place of residence, we speak of the active population with a job. At the place of work, we speak of employment at the place of work or, more briefly, employment.
Since 2004, the census has made it possible to take better account than before of working people who have a job, even if it is occasional or of short duration, and who are also students, retired or unemployed.
A dwelling is a room used for habitation:
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Separate, i.e. enclosed by walls and partitions, without communication with any other premises except with the common parts of the building (corridor, staircase, etc.);
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Independent, i.e. having an entrance with direct access to the outside or to the common parts of the building.
Dwellings are divided into four categories: main residences, secondary residences, occasional dwellings, vacant dwellings.
Mobile homes and premises used for habitation within communities (old people's homes, hostels, religious communities, etc.) are not considered as dwellings. Dwellings located within a community (called "official dwellings") are, however, considered as dwellings.
A household in the sense of a household dwelling is made up of all the people living in the same dwelling, which constitutes their usual residence, whatever the family ties between these people.
A household may consist of a single person.
A household may consist of zero, one, or more families.
A family in the sense of household-family analysis is made up of people in the same household who form a couple, with or without children, or a single-parent family.
- A “traditional” family is a couple with child(ren) where all the children living in the home are children of the couple.
- A blended family is a couple with child(ren) where at least one child living in the home is not a child of the couple, but of only one of the spouses.
- A single-parent family is made up of a person living with one or more of their children, and not living as a couple with another member of the household.
A child, in the sense of the household-family analysis, is a person of any age living in the same household as at least one of their parents, and who is neither the parent of a child in the household nor in a couple with another person in the household.
Statistical unit
Dwelling, the household, the family, the individual.
Statistical population
Persons residing in metropolitan France, in the overseas departments except Mayotte, and in the overseas collectivity of Saint-Martin.
Reference area
France hors Mayotte
Year N
The data from the ACS of year N are delivered to internal users in the geography of collection, i.e. on 01/01/N-1.
Data compilation
The first phase of the statistical analysis, known as the main phase, deals with all the questionnaires collected. It deals with all the information that can be easily coded after the questionnaires have been entered.
The second phase of the exploitation, known as complementary, is intended to produce the variables whose elaboration is more complex and which describe:
- The family structure of the households: precise determination of the reference person of the household, identification, if necessary, of families within the household and composition of these families;
- The sectors of activity in which the jobs are carried out;
- The occupation and socio-professional category of the persons.
Since the 2014 survey, the supplementary analysis has covered one-fifth of households in municipalities with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants, and all the forms collected from households (i.e. around 40 %) in municipalities with
10,000 inhabitants or more. For all communes, the complementary analysis also covers one individual in 5 communities.
The calibration margins of the 2024 ACS are based on the 2021 population census and the demographic file of dwellings and individuals for the year 2023.
- Processing population census data (fr)
- Main and supplementary farms (Thematic sheet, June 2024) (pdf, fr)
Sample size
In the 2024 ACS, 5.3 million dwellings and 9.6 million people were surveyed.
Data collection documents
The individual form covers the characteristics of the individual: gender, age, marital status, place of birth, nationality, place of study, qualifications, previous place of residence (one year prior), employment, social category, economic sector, place of work, etc.
The housing sheet describes the characteristics of:
- The household: composition, size, family ties, number of cars, etc.;
- The dwelling: type, year of completion, size, type of occupancy, social housing, heating, bathroom, sewage disposal, year of moving in, parking, etc.
A variable distinguishes the mode of response (paper or internet) chosen by the respondents.
The questionnaires (individual bulletin, individual bulletin for communities, housing sheets for metropolitan France and the overseas departments) as well as the explanatory notes are available on the site "the census and me" (site updated at each ACS).
- Census of Population - Explanatory notes (fr)
- Collection questionnaires for the 2024 annual census survey (zip, fr)
The methodology of the population census was renewed in 2004 and gave rise to an Insee Methods "Pour comprendre le recensement de la population" in 2005.
The documentation also includes sheets on the processing of data after the collection, available on insee.fr.
- Insee méthodes Special edition : To understand the population census (fr)
- Processing population census data (fr)
- Improving the accuracy of annual census surveys by mobilizing tax sources (fr)