Preliminary observations on Structural constituency data for the elections to the 16th German Bundestag

With regard to the structural constituency data presented in the online-atlas, here you can find detailed explanations of each selectable map.

Population (All inhabitants whose main place of residence is in the Federal Republic of Germany, and foreigners registered in the federal territory, including stateless persons, but excluding members of foreign armed forces stationed in the Federal Republic of Germany and of foreign diplomatic and consular representations with their dependants; data on the German population are based on the updated results of the 1987 population census - former territory of the Federal Republic - and of the central register of inhabitants of the former GDR and Berlin-East.)

Population change (live births and deaths - population growth/decline - as well as arrivals and departures across the borders of Kreise (administrative districts) / towns not attached to a Kreis - migrations)

Agricultural holdings (holdings with a utilised agricultural area (UAA)of at least 2 ha or with minimum production units)

Mining and manufacturing (data refer to local units of enterprises with 20 or more employees)

Dwellings completed and housing stock (Data contain the dwellings completed in 2002 in residential and non-residential buildings. A dwelling was defined as a complex of rooms in which house could be kept; it definitely has to include a kitchen or a room with a kitchenette or other cooking facility.)

Stock of motor vehicles (Data are determined on the basis of the information stored in the Central Register of Vehicles maintained at the Federal Office for Motor Traffic, which relies on reports from the licensing offices.)

School leavers by type of education completed (School leavers having completed compulsory full-time schooling. The data also include pupils who have attained the typical school-leaving certificate of a school type and change to another school type, thus remaining within the general education system.)

Employees subject to social insurance (Wage earners, salaried employees, and persons in vocational training who are compulsorily insured under statutory pension, health and/or unemployment insurance schemes or for whom the contribution parts for statutory pension insurance are paid; employees subject to social insurance are shown according to the workplace concept.)

Unemployed (persons registered as unemployed with the local employment office)

Data relating to the area, population (number), population density:
The results presented correspond to the actual delimitation of the constituency in question.

Information on the population by age, agricultural holdings, dwellings completed and stock of dwellings:

In general, the results shown correspond to the actual delimitation of the constituency. There are the following exceptions to this rule: For towns divided by constituency boundaries, the result for the entire town is shown for each constituency in which part of the respective town is located. If such a constituency also includes another administrative district or a town not attached to an administrative district, the result for that administrative district or town not attached to an administrative district is shown (e.g. constituency 55 = result for the town of Bremerhaven).
For the Länder of Hessen, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Sachsen-Anhalt and Thüringen, for agriculture only results at administrative district level are available, so the procedure explained in the following under the heading "other data" has to be followed.
For the Land Schleswig-Holstein, data are not always available for population by age. As this is the case only in small municipalities, these are disregarded in the calculation of percentage shares.

Other data:
The results presented correspond to the actual constituency delimitations only where constituencies are composed of complete rural districts/towns not attached to an administrative district. Where this is not that case, the procedure is as follows:

The results for rural districts divided by constituency boundaries have been allocated to the constituency to which the major part of the population belongs. Please note that there are the following special cases:
As regards the region of Hannover, which consists of the city of Hannover (constituencies 41/42) and the former rural district of Hannover (constituencies 43/47), the result for the city of Hannover is shown under constituencies 41 and 42 and the result for the former rural district of Hannover under constituencies 43 und 47 for mining and manufacturing, the stock of motor vehicles and school leavers by type of education completed. As regards the other variables, all four constituencies show the result for the region of Hannover. For the rural districts of Rhein-Sieg-Kreis (constituencies 98/99), Mettmann (constituencies 105/106), Recklinghausen (constituencies 122/123) and Esslingen (constituencies 262/263) the result of the entire rural district is shown under both constituencies mentioned.
Results could not be determined for several constituencies which consist only of parts of rural districts with the major part of the population being allocated to other constituencies. In these cases the result shown for the constituency concerned is the result of the constituency in which the largest part of the rural district belonging to the largest partial district within the constituency concerned is located. This holds for constituencies 115 Krefeld II - Wesel II (data from constituency 114), 125 Steinfurt I - Borken I (data from constituency 129), 267 Neckar-Zaber (data from constituency 266), 270 Backnang - Schwäbisch Gmünd (data from constituency 271) and 279 Bruchsal - Schwetzingen (data from constituency 273).

The following applies to towns divided by constituency boundaries:

For all towns concerned except Berlin data could not be broken down to the level of the individual constituencies. In these cases the result for the entire city is shown for each constituency in which part of that town is located. If such a constituency includes another administrative district or a town not attached to an administrative district, the result shown is that of the administrative district or town not attached to an administrative district (e.g. constituency 55 = result for the city of Bremerhaven).
The data on the age structure, building activity, housing and school-leavers by type of education completed for Berlin correspond to the actual delimitation in the case of constituencies in which complete urban districts are located. For the urban districts of Berlin divided by constituency boundaries, results have been allocated to the constituency to which the major part of the population belongs. Otherwise the procedure is the same as for other towns divided by constituency boundaries.

Data for agriculture could not be broken down for constituencies 60 and 61, and data for the stock of motor vehicles could not be broken down for constituencies 88 and 89. The constituency result shown is therefore identical for all constituencies concerned.