Urban Audit
What kind of survey is it?
Urban Audit is a joint effort by the European Commission's Directorate General for Regional Policy (DG-REGIO), Eurostat, and European countries to collect and disseminate reliable and comparable data on the quality of life in European cities.
Who commissions the survey?
The survey is commissioned by Eurostat.
Why are the data needed?
Data are collected on key statistical domains such as population (sex-age composition, citizenship, births and deaths), social life (household structure and living conditions, housing, labour market, education, culture and leisure), economy (business, tourism), and environment. The collected data allow for comparison between European cities, and the ultimate aim of the project is to contribute to improving the quality of urban life, to support the exchange of experience between European cities, and to identify best practices.
How often is the survey conducted?
Data for the Urban Audit are collected during biennial data collection rounds.
How are the participants selected?
Cities with a population of more than 50,000 are included in the survey. In Estonia, these are Tallinn, Tartu, and Narva. Data are also collected for the functional urban area (FUA), which consists of a city and its commuting zone. The functional urban areas in Estonia are Harju county (FUA of Tallinn) and Tartu county (FUA of Tartu city). Ida-Viru county is not considered as the commuting zone of Narva, and therefore FUA data are not collected there.
How are the data collected?
Data of Statistics Estonia are mainly utilised, but data from other national agencies and the cities involved are also used. Depending on the data collection round, surveys and interviews may be carried out.
Where are the results published?
The Urban Audit data are published in the Eurostat database.
The methodology of the Urban Audit is described here.
How can I make sure that it is a survey by Statistics Estonia?
If you have any questions, please contact our customer support by phone at +372 625 9300 or by e-mail at klienditugi [at] stat.ee (klienditugi[at]stat[dot]ee.)