From energy statistics (primary energy consumption) and a few Census data (residential buildings floor area) the average specific primary energy use (kWh/m(2)) of a territorial (Regional or National) building stock may be easily evaluated. However, can we achieve a deeper insight on this building stock using basically the same data bases? This is the question which this paper is aiming at, and the results is an analytical methodology to determine the Statistical Distribution Of residential Buildings according to primary Energy consumption for heating purposes (E-SDOB) at a Regional or National scale. This tool may allow the legislator to define a performance scale for building energy certification, to introduce mandatory measures and incentives for building energy retrofits, to evaluate the potential of new technologies, etc. The main source of data required for determining E-SDOB is still the National Census, but it has to be integrated by energy standards and laws, literature and a few data taken from the authors' experience and in situ analysis. The results obtained have been compared with those derived from two Italian Regional (Piedmont and Lombardy) energy statistics, with excellent agreement. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.