Censuses provide population numbers, household or family size and composition, and information on sex and age distribution. They often include other demographic, economic and health-related topics as well.

The 2011 census is a register-based census. It is the first formal census in Austria to be conducted without issuing questionnaires; it was completed entirely using national population, household, employment, and building registers and linking individual data. The census is intended to be fully compatible with previous survey years. However, some data were not collected as they were not included in any registers used.