Ethnic, Religious and Language Groups: Towards a Set of Rules for Data Collection and Statistical Analysis

Werner Haug

International Statistical Review, 2001, vol. 69, issue 2, 303-311

Abstract: The establishment of reliable and authoritative figures on ethnic, religious and language groups plays a prominent role in efforts to fight discrimination and foster individual human rights as well as minority rights. But how is an ethnic or religious group defined? Who belongs to it? How can we measure its characteristics? There is no consensus concerning these questions among statisticians, demographers and the social sciences at large. The article builds on the rich experience of Europe, including the multinational empires of the past. It identifies the background of diverging concepts and definitions, different data sources and measurement problems of ethnic, religious and language groups. The conclusion presents a set of rules and guidelines for the improvement of data collection, especially in the context population censuses and sample surveys, as well as for data analysis. L'établissement de données fiables et reconnues sur les groupes cthniques, linguistiques et religieux joue un r^le important dans la lutte contre les discriminations et la recounaissance des droits de I'homme ainsi que des droits des minorités. Maiscomment définir un groupe ethnique ou religieux? Qui appartient à un tel group? Comment mesurer ses caractéristiques? II n'y a pas de consensus en la matiére entre statisticiens, démographes et les sciences sociales en général. L 'articale se base sur I' expérience rich et contrastée du continent européen, des empires multinationaux du passéjusqu' à nos jours. II présente les différents concepts et définitions et leur contexte politique, les soureces des données ainsi que les problémes de mesure. En conclusion, il propose un jeu de régles de base pour améliorer la collecte et I' analyse des données sur les minorité s culturclles dans le cadre de la statistique publique, en particulier les recensements de la population et les enquétes par sondage.

Date: 2001
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