The questionnaire

Each household had to complete a housing questionnaire and as many personal questionnaires as there are people living in the household. It was important to complete the questionnaire for vacant dwellings as well.

The questions and response options contained in the electronic Housing and Personal Questionnaire:

We asked you to provide the following information in the questionnaire

about the dwelling: address, year of construction, material of external walls, usage (e.g. regularly, seasonally, vacant), ownership, number of rooms, floor-space, utilities, equipment, number of persons living in the dwelling.

Questions concerning the persons: name, sex, date of birth, addresses, previous stay abroad, citizenship, language skills, belonging to an ethnicity, mother tongue, language used in family and among friends, religion, marital status, number of children born and their date of birth, role in the family (e.g. husband, wife, child), school attendance, educational and vocational qualifications, digital skills, economic activity (occupation, main activity of employer, place of work), daily travel related to work or study, health status, disability.

Filling in the questionnaire was mandatory, but answering questions about ethnicity, mother tongue, language spoken in family and among friends, religion, health status and disability was voluntary.

However, it was particularly important to provide answers to the questions that could be answered voluntarily, as the census is the only source of data that allows us to learn about ethnic and religious relations in Hungary, changes in the number of people belonging to certain ethnicities and denominations, and their social and territorial characteristics. Data on health status and disability are of particular value for programmes aimed at improving the situation of people with health problems and disabilities and ensuring equal opportunities. Such detailed information on the living conditions of people with health problems and disabilities is not available from other data sources and is therefore essential not only for the preparation of health and social decisions, but also for advocacy organisations.

What was new in the 2022 questionnaire?

During the 150 years history of Hungarian censuses, the topics of data collection have changed only slightly, however, the formulation of questions is adapted to the times and new questions might appear to respond current data needs. The questionnaire of the 2022 census contained the following novelties compared to the previous one in 2011:

Digital literacy:

One of the defining topics of the Personal Questionnaire was education. In addition to that, the ability to use digital devices and the opportunities offered by the Internet is essential nowadays to navigate the world and to be successful in the labour market. A new question was introduced to gather information on digital skills.

Entering the name:

Providing the name made possible to check whether everyone has completed the questionnaire and to ensured that everyone is enumerated only once in the census. Personal identification is a common practice in the censuses of the world.

The objective of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office was to lower the respondent burden on the population during the census as much as it was possible. This was made possible by the use of data existing in the various official registers.

Energy efficiency and internet usage:

The question concerning the facilities of the dwelling covered also the availability of devices related to energy efficiency and internet usage.