Affiliations: Senior Adviser to the Bureau for Statistics and Urban
Research of the City of Nuremberg, Unschlittplatz 7a, 90403 Nuremberg, Germany.
E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: As part of the federal structure of the country, most German cities
have their own statistical bureau. Municipal statistics can be seen as the
third pillar of official statistics but is operated independently of the
legally regulated official statistics of the state. Municipal statistical
offices cooperate under the umbrella of KOSIS (Kommunales Statistisches
Informationssystem, www.kosis.de), which embraces various groups of cities and
other public institutions with the aim to develop municipal information
systems. One of these KOSIS groups is a project entitled KOSIS Association
Urban Audit of the European Union, which produces official European statistics.
This project and its organisation are described as a successful example of
cooperation across the federal levels with its positive aspects, some
shortcomings and perspectives for the future.
Keywords: Comparative statistics, local self-government, inter-city cooperation, municipal statistics, urban audit