Improving access to welfare data on minority groups ROB SWINKELS, WORLD BANK WORKSHOP ON MEASURING...

Improving access to welfare data on minority groups ROB SWINKELS, WORLD BANK

WORKSHOP ON MEASURING POVERTY AND VULNERABILITY

GENEVA, MAY 4TH 2015

[email protected]

Bulgaria Czech Republic

Hungary Moldova Romania Slovakia0%

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Roma Non-Roma neighbors

Bosnia H. Croatia Montenegro Serbia0%

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Proportion of people living in poverty (EU definition) Roma and non-Roma

Disaggregating survey findings by ethnicity can be important for policy

Source: UNDP/World Bank/EC regional Roma survey (2011)

Disaggregating survey findings by ethnicity can be important for policy (2)


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Albania

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Croati

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FYR M

acedonia

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Ages 20-24 years old

Upper secondary education completion rate: Roma vs. Non-Roma neighbors

Proportion of parents wishing at least upper secondary education for their children


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Bosnia H.

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rbia0%

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Disaggregating survey findings by ethnicity can be important for policy (3)

Welfare data on minority groups are increasing relevant in Europe and Eurasia but access to such data is weak

Welfare data on minority groups are essential for tracking success of policies aimed at integration and social inclusion. For example, EU explicit goal to address exclusion of Roma

Minority groups can be determined by Race

Ethnic minorities

Sexual orientation

Religion

Cultural differences

Welfare data on minority groups are increasing relevant in Europe and Central Asia but access to such data is weak (2)

Statistics on ethnicity and race are common in many countries in the world - but not in Europe Reluctance to recognize and emphasise ethnic diversity in official

statistics, and legal prohibitions

However, human rights bodies in Europe are increasingly promoting collection of minority group statistics New generation of anti-discrimination laws and equality directives

since 2000

This has fostered the need for monitoring unfair treatment

Data collection has become a key issue for equality bodies

*Conference of European Statisticians


EU rules and UNECE and Eurostat regulations do not actively promote data collection on ethnicity. For example, for the 2010 population censuses Ethnicity was a non-

core topic

This means that countries can choose to include the topic in the questionnaire but it is not mandatory.

Data collection on sexual minorities is even less common



Minority groups may be vulnerable to discrimination on the grounds of ethnic group or religion.

CES* recommendations therefore suggest that, if included, a question on ethnicity should be A free self-declaration

An open question and interviewers should refrain from suggesting answers to the respondents

More than one declaration of ethnicity should also be allowed, as well as the option not to give an answer

In fact ‘dual ethnic identifiers’ in census and national surveys seems to make a difference: in Hungary the number of self identified Roma doubled when using this method.


No simple way to identify ethnic groups or minorities

Self identification does not always suffice

Identification strategies of minorities may have to differ depending on type of questions asked

External identification: Identification by one or more external persons Most appropriate when studying discrimination or stigmatization

Self-identification Best when studying opinions attitudes and experiences of those who

‘feel’ they belong to a minority

Less than two thirds of UNECE countries (31 out of 51) collected information on ethnicity in their recent census

Information on ethnicity was collected separately from that on nationality or citizenship in the majority of countries (23).

79 per cent of countries collected the information on ethnicity only on a voluntary basis

six countries collected information on ethnicity on a mandatory basis (Ireland, Latvia, Poland, Tajikistan, the United Kingdom and the United States)

All Western Balkan countries included questions on ethnicity, religion and mother tongue

Source: UNECE 2014- Measuring population and housing, practices of UNECE countries in the 2010 population and housing census

More countries collected information on language (71 per cent) in their census than on ethnic group or religion.

The most commonly adopted mode of question was ‘mother tongue’;

Information on ‘language(s) spoken most often at home’ was collected by over half of the countries (20)

Collecting data on language is less sensitive and can be a good proxy for ethnicity

Source: UNECE 2014- Measuring population and housing, practices of UNECE countries in the 2010 population and housing census

The paucity of census data disaggregated by ethnic group hampers design of targeted surveys

Because of this household surveys cannot adequately cover these groups in their samples (e.g. through ‘booster’ samples).

The 2011 UNDP/World Bank/EC Roma survey used an alternative method. Information from various sources was used to draw a population sample of

Roma and non-Roma communities.

The samples were selected in areas where Roma proportion is above the national average.

Non-Roma respondents were selected on the basis of the proximity of their residence to Roma,

which means that they share certain characteristics of the local environment.

Need to involve minority groups themselves more in discussions around how they can best be identified in surveys and censuses

Need to mainstream data collection from minorities

Most data on minorities today are collected through special surveys

Need to move towards mainstreaming of data collection from minorities in nationally representative surveys

Special surveys are informative However they usually are not representative of the

whole population or its subgroups They therefore do not allow for a full comparison of

minorities with other groups

policy application may therefore be more limited

Albania Croatia Kosovo Montenegro Serbia Turkey FYR Macedonia

Iceland Bosnia and H.

Questions on ethnicity, religion and language

yes yes yes yes yes No yes Country of birth, origin

Yes

Source: Eurostat 2013. Factsheets on 2011 population censuses in the Enlargement countries

Questions included in the 2011 Population census in the EU Enlargement countries

Nearly all countries in the Western Balkans include questions on ethnicity religion and language in their population census

Country Type of survey Year Ethnic group Nationality Mother tongue ReligionAlbania LSMS 2012 Yes, at individual

levelNo Yes, at individual

levelYes, at individual level

Armenia ILCS 2013 No Yes, individual level, but not specific country

No No

Bosnia and H. EHBS 2011 No Yes, individual level, but not specific country

No No

Georgia IHS 2013 No Yes at individual level No NoKyrgyz KIHS 2013 No Yes, at individual level No NoMKD HBS 2009 No Yes, at individual level No NoPoland HBS 2013 No Yes, at individual level No NoRomania HBS 2013 Yes, at individual

level, including Roma

Yes, at individual level, but not with specific country

No No

Countries in Europe and Central Asia that have any of the ethnicity-related variables in their household income and expenditure survey questionnaire

Source: World Bank

Albania is a ‘front runner’ in collecting data on ethnicity in surveys

Collecting administrative data on ethnicity should perhaps not be allowed in cases where this can have a direct negative impact on groups

In some countries (e.g. Bulgaria, Albania, Romania ) collecting information on ethnicity is allowed for research purposes (like surveys) and for censuses.

But it is not allowed in the context of say the police collecting data on ethnicity, which is a violation of privacy.

In the United States data on ‘race’ are systematically collected.

But this is not allowed for employment agencies, to prevent ‘racial profiling’.

Hungary has shown that data on ethnicity can be collected in a census provided that these are based on respondents’ voluntary statements.

In Hungary, the 2011 census questionnaire contained the following questions pertaining to ethnic identity:

Which nationality do you feel you belong to?

Do you think you belong to another nationality in

addition to what you marked above

What is your mother tongue?

In which languages do you usually speak with family members or friends?

Respondents were informed that there was no obligation to respond to these questions In line with a 1992 Act on the protection of personal data and the publication of data of

public interest.

Non-response to these questions was 15%

Hungary is now piloting these questions for the next round of LFS and EU SILC.

Experiences in Latin America

Increasingly standardized questions for identifying indigenous people in surveys are developed.

Self-identification appears unreliable

Language (mother tongue, commonly used language, language used at home, and secondary language) appears to provide more consistent proportions of indigenous people Used in Peru and Guatemala, among others.

World Bank LSMS surveys

World Bank Living Standard Measurement Surveys (LSMS) usually include several questions related to ethnicity:

What ethnic group does [NAME] belong?

What religion does [NAME] practices?

What is the mother tongue of [NAME] (the language spoken to [NAME] by the mother from birth.

What language(s) does [NAME] use daily at home?

What language, not counting the daily mother tongue, does [NAME] use occasionally (speak or understand) ?

Conclusions

Increasing demand for welfare data in Europe and Central Asia that can be disaggregated by minority groups

Need to identify minorities in mainstream surveys such as EU SILC and census

Need to further test appropriate questions (minorities are not always easily defined/ identified) Dual identification (respondent can give more than one answer)

Language spoken at home/ mother tongue

Need to involve minority groups themselves more in discussions around how they can best be identified in surveys and censuses

World Bank has substantial experience in this area and is willing to help.

Stronger guidelines on this from UNECE and Eurostat?

Literature

Vera Messing (2014) Methodological puzzles of surveying Roma/Gypsy populations

Ágnes Tóth andJános Vékás (20??) National and Ethnic Minorities in Hungary in the Period 2001–2011 – Ethno-Demographic Trends as Reflected in the Census Data

Patrick Simon (2012), Collecting ethnic statistics in Europe: a review. Ethnic and Racial Studies

UNECE 2014- Measuring population and housing, practices of UNECE countries in the 2010 population and housing census

Gilette Hall and Harry Patrinos (2005) Latin America's Indigenous Peoples. Finance and Development.

lana Tummino. Indigenous or Not? Americas quarterly Spring 2014http://americasquarterly.org/content/indigenous-or-not

Contributions

Marius Andersen (Eurostat), Rodrigo Salcedo Du Bois, Aly Rahim, Carolina Sanchez-Paramo, Sandor Karacsony, Ivelina Taushanova, Timothy Johnston, Marijana Jasarevic, Joost de Laat, Johannes Koettl, Ana Maria Munoz Boudet, Joao Pedro de Azavedo and Valerie Morrica (all World Bank)

Improving access to welfare data on minority groups ROB SWINKELS, WORLD BANK WORKSHOP ON MEASURING...

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