In 1800, the region of Germany was not a single, unified nation, but a collection of decentralized, independent states, bound together as part of the Holy Roman Empire. This empire was dissolved, however, in 1806, during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras in Europe, and the German Confederation was established in 1815. Napoleonic reforms led to the abolition of serfdom, extension of voting rights to property-owners, and an overall increase in living standards. The population grew throughout the remainder of the century, as improvements in sanitation and medicine (namely, mandatory vaccination policies) saw child mortality rates fall in later decades. As Germany industrialized and the economy grew, so too did the argument for nationhood; calls for pan-Germanism (the unification of all German-speaking lands) grew more popular among the lower classes in the mid-1800s, especially following the revolutions of 1948-49. In contrast, industrialization and poor harvests also saw high unemployment in rural regions, which led to waves of mass migration, particularly to the U.S.. In 1886, the Austro-Prussian War united northern Germany under a new Confederation, while the remaining German states (excluding Austria and Switzerland) joined following the Franco-Prussian War in 1871; this established the German Empire, under the Prussian leadership of Emperor Wilhelm I and Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. 1871 to 1945 - Unification to the Second World War The first decades of unification saw Germany rise to become one of Europe's strongest and most advanced nations, and challenge other world powers on an international scale, establishing colonies in Africa and the Pacific. These endeavors were cut short, however, when the Austro-Hungarian heir apparent was assassinated in Sarajevo; Germany promised a "blank check" of support for Austria's retaliation, who subsequently declared war on Serbia and set the First World War in motion. Viewed as the strongest of the Central Powers, Germany mobilized over 11 million men throughout the war, and its army fought in all theaters. As the war progressed, both the military and civilian populations grew increasingly weakened due to malnutrition, as Germany's resources became stretched. By the war's end in 1918, Germany suffered over 2 million civilian and military deaths due to conflict, and several hundred thousand more during the accompanying influenza pandemic. Mass displacement and the restructuring of Europe's borders through the Treaty of Versailles saw the population drop by several million more.

Reparations and economic mismanagement also financially crippled Germany and led to bitter indignation among many Germans in the interwar period; something that was exploited by Adolf Hitler on his rise to power. Reckless printing of money caused hyperinflation in 1923, when the currency became so worthless that basic items were priced at trillions of Marks; the introduction of the Rentenmark then stabilized the economy before the Great Depression of 1929 sent it back into dramatic decline. When Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, the Nazi government disregarded the Treaty of Versailles' restrictions and Germany rose once more to become an emerging superpower. Hitler's desire for territorial expansion into eastern Europe and the creation of an ethnically-homogenous German empire then led to the invasion of Poland in 1939, which is considered the beginning of the Second World War in Europe. Again, almost every aspect of German life contributed to the war effort, and more than 13 million men were mobilized. After six years of war, and over seven million German deaths, the Axis powers were defeated and Germany was divided into four zones administered by France, the Soviet Union, the UK, and the U.S.. Mass displacement, shifting borders, and the relocation of peoples based on ethnicity also greatly affected the population during this time. 1945 to 2020 - Partition and Reunification In the late 1940s, cold war tensions led to two distinct states emerging in Germany; the Soviet-controlled east became the communist German Democratic Republic (DDR), and the three western zones merged to form the democratic Federal Republic of Germany. Additionally, Berlin was split in a similar fashion, although its location deep inside DDR territory created series of problems and opportunities for the those on either side. Life quickly changed depending on which side of the border one lived. Within a decade, rapid economic recovery saw West Germany become western Europe's strongest economy and a key international player. In the east, living standards were much lower, although unemployment was almost non-existent; internationally, East Germany was the strongest economy in the Eastern Bloc (after the USSR), though it eventually fell behind the West by the 1970s. The restriction of movement between the two states also led to labor shortages in t...

Abstract

Most people in Lao PDR live in rural areas and make their living from agriculture. The Government needs detailed and up-to-date statistics on agriculture to help develop the agricultural sector and improve the welfare of the people. The Government already has statistics on the area and production of rice and other major crops, as well as livestock numbers. However, there is little information available on such things as: the different types of rice grown, the number of rice farmers, the area planted to minor crops, the use of different inputs, the use of farm machinery, farm size, farm labour, and the age/sex structure of livestock. The Lao Agricultural Census will provide these and many other data. The Lao Agricultural Census is part of a world-wide programme of agricultural censuses, which started in the 1930’s. Over 120 countries are now participating in that programme; many of these undertake agricultural censuses every ten years. The Lao Agricultural Census is the first such census undertaken in Lao PDR. It is being conducted in all 141 districts and is one of the largest and most important statistical collections ever undertaken in the country.

Objectives of Lao Agricultural Census:

1. To provide data on the structure of agriculture, agricultural land (land use for agricultural crops; livestock).

   Land issue: there is strong need for land use and other related data to guide land policy formulation .

2. To obtain community-level data (at the village level) for examining the infrastructure and services available to farm holdings.

3. To provide data to use as benchmarks for current agricultural statistics.

4. To strengthen national capacity and provide frames for future agricultural sample surveys.

Geographic coverage

National coverage

Analysis unit

Households

Universe

The statistical unit was the farm household (holding), defined as an economic unit of agricultural production under single management, comprising all livestock raised and all agricultural land operated, regardless of ownership, which engages agricultural operation above certain established thresholds of land, livestock or aquaculture.

Kind of data

Census/enumeration data [cen]

Sampling procedure

Sample design and selection

The sample for the sample farm household component was selected using two-stage sampling: a sample of villages was first selected, and then a sample of farm households was selected in each sample village. In most districts, a sample of between 16 and 22 villages was selected, with 16 farm households selected in each sample village; that is, a sample of between 256 and 352 sample farm households in each district. The more villages or farm households in a district, the bigger the sample that was taken. A smaller sample was taken in urban districts and districts containing few villages or households. In each district, the sample of villages was selected using stratified systematic probability proportional to size (PPS) sampling. A list of all villages in Lao PDR was prepared. Villages were divided into urban and rural strata, with rural strata being sampled more heavily than urban strata because of their agricultural importance. The estimated number of households in each village was used as the size measure for PPS sampling. The sample of farm households in each sample village was selected using stratified systematic random sampling based on a list of all farm households in each village prepared following the household component of the census. Altogether, 2,620 villages and 41,660 sample farm households were selected in the sample.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

Four questionnaires were used in the CA 2010/2011, as follows:

(i) a form for listing the households in the village, Form 1;

(ii) a questionnaire for the household component, Form 4;

(iii) a questionnaire for the farm household (holding) component, Form 5;

(iv) a questionnaire for the village component, Form 3.

The 2010/2011 CA census questionnaires covered all 16 core items recommended for the WCA 2010 roundn namely;

0001 Identification and location of agricultural holding 0002+ Legal status of agricultural holder 0003 Sex of agricultural holder 0004 Age of agricultural holder 0005 Household size 0006 Main purpose of production of the holding 0007 Area of holding according to land use types 0008 Total area of holding 0009 Land tenure types on the holding 0010 Presence of irrigation on the holding 0011 Types of temporary crops on the holding 0012 Types of permanent crops on the holding and whether in compact plantation 0013 Number of animals on the holding for each livestock type 0014 Presence of aquaculture on the holding 0015+ Presence of forest and other wooded land on the holding 0016 Other economic production activities of the holding's enterprise

See questionnnares in external materials tab

Cleaning operations

Census processing

Completed questionnaires were returned to ACO in Vientiane for processing. Processing involved:

• checking that the census enumeration was complete;
• manually checking that questionnaires had been correctly filled out; coding of descriptive responses (such as crop types);
• entering data into the computer (using keyboard methods); running computer checks to identify and correct errors; and producing tabulations of census data.

There were nearly 1.2 million questionnaires and therefore it took some for the processing to be completed. Preliminary checking and coding was done from May-September 2011; data entry was done from June-December 2011; and error checking was done from August 2011-February 2012. Tabulations were prepared by April 2012.

Response rate

village component- 99 percent

household component - 99. 4 percent

sample farm household componen - 99.9 percent

Sampling error estimates

The census data presented from the sample farm household component are based on a sample and are therefore subject to sampling errors. Because of the sample design used, sampling errors on provincial and national estimates are generally quite small.

Data appraisal

To ensure census data quality, supervision was done at the central, provincial and district level. The data were confronted with external sources, such as the data from the previous census and current agricultural surveys. For the sampling component, statistical errors were computed.