Status Update on Task Force 9: Sex and Gender

This paper provides an update on the work of the Committee on European Statisticians (CES) Task Force 9. For the first time a Task Force has been convened to provide recommendations on the collection of information on sex and gender for the 2030 round of Censuses of Population and Housing. While sex has previously been recommended as a core demographic variable and is routinely collected, some UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) countries have recently started to also collect information on gender or gender identity. That is, most collections of information on sex, sometimes called gender, have typically included binary – male/female – response options. While the concepts of sex and gender are often confounded in data collections, some censuses now include a question on gender that allows respondents to express themselves more fully beyond simply binary options. The Task Force has been meeting since the Fall of 2022 to further consider the diversity of national circumstances across the UNECE countries. The Task Force’s focus is on outlining concepts and definitions related to sex, gender and gender identity; the rational for sex as a core topic in addition to the collection of information on gender; the collection experiences in countries that have introduced non-binary response options (question wording, response options, classifications standards); and, issues to consider before making changes to the census (e.g. policy, public opinion, legal context, disclosure control and quality assurance). The Task Force’s work will culminate in May 2025 with recommendations for the 2030 round of Censuses of Population and Housing.