Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The UK censuses took place on 27 March 2011. They were run by the Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency (NISRA), National Records of Scotland (NRS), and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for both England and Wales. The UK comprises the countries of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Statistics from the UK censuses help paint a picture of the nation and how we live. They provide a detailed snapshot of the population and its characteristics and underpin funding allocation to provide public services. This is the home for all UK census data.

Census flow data involve flows of individuals in the UK between origins and destinations. These flows are either the residential migrations of individuals from one place of usual residence to another, or of commuters making journeys from home to workplace or place of study.

These data are derived from the questions on the census form relating to usual place of residence one year ago, and the place of work for the respondent's main job. Flow data are currently available at a range of different spatial scales ranging from Output Areas to Local Authority Districts.


Main Topics:


The Census Support: Flow Data website facilitates access to the interaction data for members of UK higher and further education institutions. Access is provided through the Web-based Interface to Census Interaction Data (WICID).

The 2011 sets currently held include:

• Census migration datasets: Special Migration Statistics. Migration data at Local Authority District, Ward, and Output Area level.
• Special Student Statistics: Migration data at Local Authority District, Ward, and Output Area level.
• Census commuting datasets: Special Workplace Statistics: Commuting data at Local Authority District, Middle-layer Super Output Area, Intermediate Zone (for Scotland), Workplace Zone (for England and Wales), and Output Area level.
• Census second residence datasets: Special Residence Statistics. Commuting data at Local Authority District, Ward, and Output Area level.

Explicit registration is not required for the 2011 Census products that have been released under the Open Government Licence. However, outputs from the 2011 Census classified as 'safeguarded' require users to agree on additional terms and conditions. Access to these datasets is only permitted via Federated Access.

The Flow Data website provides two basic routes to the data.

• WICID is the main route to the flow data. It provides a flexible service to download extracts of data in a variety of forms;
• the Downloads page allows users to download the original tables as released by ONS.

Access data through the WICID Flow Data website.

View the Census flow data guide.

Economic activity relates to whether or not a person who was working or looking for work in the week before census. Rather than a simple indicator of whether or not someone was currently in employment, it provides a measure of whether or not a person was an active participant in the labour market. A person's economic activity is derived from their 'Activity last week'. This is an indicator of their status or availability for employment - whether employed, actively looking for work, waiting to start a new job, available to start a new job, or their status if not employed or not seeking employment. Additional information included in the economic activity classification is also derived from information about the number of hours a person works and their type of employment - whether employed or self-employed. The census concept of economic activity is compatible with the standard for economic status defined by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). It is one of a number of definitions used internationally to produce accurate and comparable statistics on employment, unemployment and economic status. The 2011 Census question on religion asks for the person's current religion, or if the person does not have a religion, 'no religion'. No determination is made about whether a person was a practicing member of a religion. Unlike other census questions where missing answers are imputed, this question was voluntary, and where no answer was provided the response is categorised as 'not stated'. For the 2011 Census, a usual resident of the UK is anyone who, on census day 2011, was in the UK and had stayed or intended to stay in the UK for a period of 12 months or more, or had a permanent UK address and was outside the UK and intended to be outside the UK for less than 12 months. For more information see Weblinks.

A series of flow based classifications of commuting for England and Wales based on MSOA origin-destination data from the 2011 Census. It consists of 9 super-groups and 40 sub-groups. The evidence can be used to target funding for an 'into-work-scheme' to help the most disconnected community. The toolkit allows the policymaker to explore levels of commuting and compare the level of connectivity of each neighbourhood to major employment centres. The underlying rationale for the research is that the toolkit will help deliver efficiencies in public and private sector investment. This is crucial at a time when the government is promoting the need for smarter economic growth but doing so in a challenging context in which public sector resources are scarce and the private sector is risk averse.

Numerous research studies use commuting data, collected through the Census of Population, to understand social, economic and environmental challenges in the UK. This commuting data has been used to understand patterns; answer questions regarding the relationship between housing and labour markets; and to see if travel behaviour is becoming more or less sustainable over time. However, there is lots of untapped potential for such data to be used to evaluate transport policy and investment decisions so resources are more effectively and efficiently targeted to places of need. In applied public policy a major shortcoming has been a lack of use of this data to support investment in transport which has major implications for economic growth. If transport investments are inefficiently targeted, this restricts the capacity of places to grow economies to their full potential. This wastes their resources by over investing in transport capacity in areas where it is not needed. Equally, it has long been argued that efficient investment in transport is crucial if labour market exclusion, particularly the case of deprived communities, is to be tackled. The aim of the research is to inform community transportation policy and investment and the socio-spatial dimensions of travel to work flows over time (2001-2011). Our research develops a toolkit to help decision-makers better target investment in transport capacity and infrastructure. The toolkit includes a series of new classifications of commuting flows from the 2001 and 2011 Censuses. It will include a classification of newly developed official Workplace Zones for England to complement official residential population-based classifications alongside various population, deprivation, investment and infrastructure data. The toolkit will bring these classifications and datasets together online through various mapping and analysis tools to understand the dynamics of commuting between different types of residential and workplace locations over time and combine these datasets and analyses with locally-specific transport investment data. The methodology developed will be applied to England as a whole but we will use the Manchester as a test-case for our analysis and for development of the toolkit. The use of open source approaches to build the toolkit means that other locations will have the framework to develop their own toolkit. The flow and area-based (Workplace Zones) classifications for England will complement official ONS residential-based output area classification and existing indices of deprivation. This will be mapped in relation to key transport investments made in Manchester, using local administrative data and overlay these with the results of commuting analysis to support decision-making regarding future targeted public transport infrastructure investment. The toolkit will be interactive so users can pose policy questions to explore commuting relationships between different places. The strength of this approach is that it will enable policy and decision-makers to test various scenarios for future transport investment depending on problems they have posed. In a hypothetical situation, a policymaker in might ask the question of whether a specific deprived community in their city is more or less connected into a major employment centre than another equally deprived community.

This analysis looks at older people (aged 65 and over) who were usually resident in England and Wales and who were living at a different address one year prior to the 2011 Census. This was based on Census Question 21, which asked ‘One year ago, what was your usual address?’ Source agency: Office for National Statistics Designation: National Statistics Language: English Alternative title: Census Analysis

Dataset population: Persons

Ethnic group (UK harmonised)

Ethnic group classifies people according to their own perceived ethnic group and cultural background.

Due to question and response category differences in the country-specific ethnic group question asked in the 2011 Censuses of the UK, some responses are not directly comparable. The UK output on ethnic group is therefore presented using a high-level classification as recommended by the ONS: Primary Standards for Harmonised Concepts and Questions for Social Data sources.

The resource comprises population surfaces generated from publicly available GB Census data for 1971, 1981, 1991, 2001 and 2011 to enable direct comparisons between Censuses. Population surfaces are estimates of counts of people for regular grids (with population estimates over, for example, 1km by 1km grid cells) and these can be directly compared between Censuses. Variables include age, country of birth, ethnicity, housing tenure, employment, self-reported health, overcrowding and a composite measure of deprivation over 1km by 1km cells for all Censuses where variables are available.

The research will explore how the population of the UK is, or has been, geographically distributed. The project will bring a new and important perspective to debates about divisions, inequalities and the ways in which people in the UK live together or apart. It will address questions such as: are health inequalities between places greater now than in the past? What makes localities different - are they geographically distinguished more by housing tenure or health than they are by employment status or ethnicity? What areas have the greatest diversity of people and how has this changed between 1971 and 2011? To answer these questions, we will generate population surfaces from publicly available Census data for 1971, 1981, 1991, 2001 and 2011 to enable direct comparisons between Censuses. Counts of people in a variety of population sub-groups (e.g., by qualifications, age, etc) have been released from each Census for sets of small geographical areas (such as enumeration districts or output areas). This allows the mapping and analysis of geographical patterning in population groups across the UK for each Census. However, these small areas differ in size and shape between Censuses, so the 1971 small area boundaries, for example, are very different to those for 2011. This project will produce population surfaces for each Census year as a means of overcoming this problem. Population surfaces are estimates of counts of people for regular grids (with population estimates over, for example, 100m by 100m grid cells); these can be directly compared between Censuses. So, once these population surfaces are available we will be able to consider how localities have changed and in what ways. This new population surface resource will be made freely available so that users can explore these changes for themselves and also consider in more depth the results we produce. We will use this resource to provide the first systematic review of how the population of the UK has changed over the last 40 years. It will show how population groups in the UK are geographically distributed and it will assess, in detail, how far different localities (for example, within central Scotland) or regions (for example, south east England or north west England) are becoming more similar or more different to one another in terms of their population characteristics. The project will also consider how the relationships between population groups have changed across time. For example, with a consistent geography, it will be possible to assess which small area localities have very high rates of unemployment together with large proportions of social rented households, and how the characteristics of these localities changed between 1971 and 2011. We will also be able to identify which population characteristics most strongly distinguish particular areas. As an example, the population in some localities in north west England may be very similar in terms of levels of poor health, unemployment and housing tenure, but differ in terms of the number of single person households or the average number of dependent children. The project will explore these differences in detail and, for the first time, construct a detailed profile of the geographical distribution of individual population groups and the multiple characteristics of areas in combination. The population surface resource will be invaluable to any users interested in the population geography of the UK, while the results of our analysis of population distributions will enrich our understanding of the ways in which the population of the UK has changed over the last 40 years.

Office for National Statistics' national and subnational Census 2021. Schoolchildren and full-time studentsThis dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify all usual residents aged 5 years and over in England and Wales. The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021. Schoolchild or full-time student indicator definition: Indicates whether a person aged 5 years and over was in full-time education on Census Day, 21 March 2021. This includes schoolchildren and adults in full-time education.Schoolchildren and students in full-time education studying away from home are treated as usually resident at their term-time address.Comparability with 2011: Broadly comparable.We have removed the category Schoolchild or full-time student for Census 2021 and replaced it with Student. In the 2011 Census people aged 4 years and over were asked to answer the question, in Census 2021 people aged 5 years and over were asked to answer the question. This data is issued at (BGC) Generalised (20m) boundary type for:Country - England and WalesRegion - EnglandUTLA - England and WalesLTLA - England and WalesWard - England and WalesMSOA - England and WalesLSOA - England and WalesOA - England and WalesIf you require the data at full resolution boundaries, or if you are interested in the range of statistical data that Esri UK make available in ArcGIS Online please enquire at content@esriuk.com.The data services available from this page are derived from the National Data Service. The NDS delivers thousands of open national statistical indicators for the UK as data-as-a-service. Data are sourced from major providers such as the Office for National Statistics, Public Health England and Police UK and made available for your area at standard geographies such as counties, districts and wards and census output areas. This premium service can be consumed as online web services or on-premise for use throughout the ArcGIS system.Read more about the NDS.

Dataset population: Persons

Ethnic group

Ethnic group classifies people according to their own perceived ethnic group and cultural background.

This topic contains ethnic group write-in responses without reference to the five broad ethnic group categories, e.g. all Irish people, irrespective of whether they are White, Mixed/multiple ethnic groups, Asian/Asian British, Black/African/Caribbean/Black British or Other ethnic group, are in the "Irish" response category. This topic was created as part of the commissioned table processing.

Religion

This is a person's current religion, or if the person does not have a religion, 'No religion'. No determination is made about whether a person was a practicing member of a religion. Unlike other census questions where missing answers are imputed, this question was voluntary and where no answer was provided, the response is categorised as 'Not stated'.

Dataset population: Persons aged 16 and over

Age

Age is derived from the date of birth question and is a person's age at their last birthday, at 27 March 2011. Dates of birth that imply an age over 115 are treated as invalid and the person's age is imputed. Infants less than one year old are classified as 0 years of age.

Ethnic group

Ethnic group classifies people according to their own perceived ethnic group and cultural background.

This topic contains ethnic group write-in responses without reference to the five broad ethnic group categories, e.g. all Irish people, irrespective of whether they are White, Mixed/multiple ethnic groups, Asian/Asian British, Black/African/Caribbean/Black British or Other ethnic group, are in the 'Irish' response category. This topic was created as part of the commissioned table processing.

NS-SeC

The National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (NS-SeC) provides an indication of socio-economic position based on occupation. It is an Office for National Statistics standard classification.

To assign a person aged 16 to 74 to an NS-SeC category, their occupation title is combined with information about their employment status, whether they are employed or self-employed and whether or not they supervise other employees. Full-time students are recorded in the 'full-time students' category regardless of whether they are economically active or not.

The rebased version of NS-SeC used in census results uses occupation coded to SOC2010. Information about the classification is available here: NS-SEC rebased on SOC2010.

For 'Long-term unemployed', the year last worked is 2009 or earlier. In 2011 Census results, because the census did not ask a question about the number of employees at a person's workplace, the reduced method of deriving NS-SeC (which does not require this information) is used.

Office for National Statistics' national and subnational Census 2021. Occupancy rating for roomsThis dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify households in England and Wales by occupancy rating based on the number of rooms in the household. The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021. Occupancy rating for rooms definition: Whether a household's accommodation is overcrowded, ideally occupied or under-occupied. This is calculated by comparing the number of rooms the household requires to the number of available rooms.The number of rooms the household requires uses a formula which states that:one-person households require three rooms comprised of two common rooms and one bedroomtwo-or-more person households require a minimum of two common rooms and a bedroom for each person inline with the Bedroom StandardPeople who should have their own room according to the Bedroom Standard are:married or cohabiting couplesingle parentperson aged 16 years and overpair of same-sex persons aged 10 to 15 yearsperson aged 10 to 15 years paired with a person under 10 years of the same sexpair of children aged under 10 years, regardless of their sexperson aged under 16 years who cannot share a bedroom with someone in 4, 5 or 6 aboveAn occupancy rating of: -1 or less: implies that a household's accommodation has fewer rooms than required (overcrowded)+1 or more: implies that a household's accommodation has more rooms than required (under-occupied)0: suggests that a household's accommodation has an ideal number of roomsThe number of rooms is taken from Valuation Office Agency (VOA) administrative data for the first time in 2021. The number of rooms is recorded at the address level, whilst the 2011 Census recorded the number of rooms at the household level.This means that for households that live in a shared dwelling, the available number of rooms are counted for the whole dwelling in VOA, and not each individual household.VOA's definition of a room does not include bathrooms, toilets, halls or landings, kitchens, conservatories or utility rooms. All other rooms, for example, living rooms, studies, bedrooms, separate dining rooms and rooms that can only be used for storage are included. Please note that the 2011 Census question included kitchens, conservatories and utility rooms while excluding rooms that can only be used for storage. To adjust for the definitional difference, the number of rooms required is deducted from the actual number of rooms it has available, and then 1 is added.Quality information: It is inappropriate to measure change in number of rooms from 2011 to 2021, as Census 2021 used Valuation Office Agency data for this variable. Instead use Census 2021 estimates for number of bedrooms for comparisons over time.Comparability with 2011: Not comparable. This variable cannot be compared with the variable used in the 2011 Census. This is because in Census 2021 the data are collected using administrative data instead of data from Census 2021. This data is issued at (BGC) Generalised (20m) boundary type for:Country - England and WalesRegion - EnglandUTLA - England and WalesLTLA - England and WalesWard - England and WalesMSOA - England and WalesLSOA - England and WalesOA - England and WalesIf you require the data at full resolution boundaries, or if you are interested in the range of statistical data that Esri UK make available in ArcGIS Online please enquire at content@esriuk.com.The data services available from this page are derived from the National Data Service. The NDS delivers thousands of open national statistical indicators for the UK as data-as-a-service. Data are sourced from major providers such as the Office for National Statistics, Public Health England and Police UK and made available for your area at standard geographies such as counties, districts and wards and census output areas. This premium service can be consumed as online web services or on-premise for use throughout the ArcGIS system.Read more about the NDS.

Every ten years since 1801 the nation has set aside one day for the census - a count of all people and households. It is the most complete source of information about the population that we have. The latest census was held on Sunday 27 March 2011.

Every effort is made to include everyone, and that is why the census is so important. It is the only survey which provides a detailed picture of the entire population, and is unique because it covers everyone at the same time and asks the same core questions everywhere. This makes it easy to compare different parts of the country.

The information the census provides allows central and local government, health authorities and many other organisations to target their resources more effectively and to plan housing, education, health and transport services for years to come.

In England and Wales, the census is planned and carried out by the Office for National Statistics. Elsewhere in the UK, responsibility lies with the National Records of Scotland and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.

All 2011 Census data for ‘Welsh’ records are defined as those: - Currently resident in Wales - With a second address in Wales - With a previous Years Address in Wales - With a term-time address in Wales - Who work in Wales (but live in England) - In Armed Forces Establishments in Wales - Who are visitors in Wales - Who are Welsh language speakers (including those who live and work outside of Wales).

The ONS have three processes for checking and resolving duplicate responses so that the main census data should simply be one record for each person:

1. The ONS resolve duplicates coming in for the same postcode using a process called Resolve Multiple Responses (RMR). For instance, if two people both fill in a form for their whole household, or someone from a household also submits an individual response unknown to the main submission. They have rules for checking they are duplicates, and rules for which to keep.

2. The ONS also do an over coverage check on a sample basis for duplicates across the rest of the country, and then factor the findings into their coverage estimation calculations. This sampling focuses on the types of population which are more likely to be duplicated (people who have indicated they have a second residence on the census, students aged 18-25, armed forces personnel, children, adults enumerated at a communal establishment, etc.) but also samples from the remaining population.

3. The ONS ask parents to fill in basic demographic information for any children who are away studying, and when they get to the question on their term-time address, if they answer that the term-time address is elsewhere, we then use that to filter those out-of-term students out of the main database. Then when that student does respond actually at their term-time address, they only include them there.

Variables RELAT06, RELAT11, RELAT16, RELAT21, RELAT26 are not available in the data

Dataset population: Persons

Ethnic group

Ethnic group classifies people according to their own perceived ethnic group and cultural background.

This topic contains ethnic group write-in responses without reference to the five broad ethnic group categories, e.g. all Irish people, irrespective of whether they are White, Mixed/multiple ethnic groups, Asian/Asian British, Black/African/Caribbean/Black British or Other ethnic group, are in the 'Irish' response category. This topic was created as part of the commissioned table processing.

National identity

A person's national identity is a self-determined assessment of their own identity with respect to the country or countries with which they feel an affiliation. This assessment of identity is not dependent on legal nationality or ethnic group.

The national identity question included six tick box responses:

• English
• Welsh
• Scottish
• Northern Irish
• British
• Other

Where a person ticked 'Other' they were asked to write in the name of the country. People were asked to tick all options that they felt applied to them. This means that in results relating to national identity people may be classified with a single national identity or a combination of identities.

Office for National Statistics' national and subnational Census 2021. Occupancy rating for roomsThis dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify households in England and Wales by occupancy rating based on the number of rooms in the household. The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021. Occupancy rating for rooms definition: Whether a household's accommodation is overcrowded, ideally occupied or under-occupied. This is calculated by comparing the number of rooms the household requires to the number of available rooms.The number of rooms the household requires uses a formula which states that:one-person households require three rooms comprised of two common rooms and one bedroomtwo-or-more person households require a minimum of two common rooms and a bedroom for each person inline with the Bedroom StandardPeople who should have their own room according to the Bedroom Standard are:married or cohabiting couplesingle parentperson aged 16 years and overpair of same-sex persons aged 10 to 15 yearsperson aged 10 to 15 years paired with a person under 10 years of the same sexpair of children aged under 10 years, regardless of their sexperson aged under 16 years who cannot share a bedroom with someone in 4, 5 or 6 aboveAn occupancy rating of: -1 or less: implies that a household's accommodation has fewer rooms than required (overcrowded)+1 or more: implies that a household's accommodation has more rooms than required (under-occupied)0: suggests that a household's accommodation has an ideal number of roomsThe number of rooms is taken from Valuation Office Agency (VOA) administrative data for the first time in 2021. The number of rooms is recorded at the address level, whilst the 2011 Census recorded the number of rooms at the household level.This means that for households that live in a shared dwelling, the available number of rooms are counted for the whole dwelling in VOA, and not each individual household.VOA's definition of a room does not include bathrooms, toilets, halls or landings, kitchens, conservatories or utility rooms. All other rooms, for example, living rooms, studies, bedrooms, separate dining rooms and rooms that can only be used for storage are included. Please note that the 2011 Census question included kitchens, conservatories and utility rooms while excluding rooms that can only be used for storage. To adjust for the definitional difference, the number of rooms required is deducted from the actual number of rooms it has available, and then 1 is added.Quality information: It is inappropriate to measure change in number of rooms from 2011 to 2021, as Census 2021 used Valuation Office Agency data for this variable. Instead use Census 2021 estimates for number of bedrooms for comparisons over time.Comparability with 2011: Not comparable. This variable cannot be compared with the variable used in the 2011 Census. This is because in Census 2021 the data are collected using administrative data instead of data from Census 2021. This data is issued at (BGC) Generalised (20m) boundary type for:Country - England and WalesRegion - EnglandUTLA - England and WalesLTLA - England and WalesWard - England and WalesMSOA - England and WalesLSOA - England and WalesOA - England and WalesIf you require the data at full resolution boundaries, or if you are interested in the range of statistical data that Esri UK make available in ArcGIS Online please enquire at content@esriuk.com.The data services available from this page are derived from the National Data Service. The NDS delivers thousands of open national statistical indicators for the UK as data-as-a-service. Data are sourced from major providers such as the Office for National Statistics, Public Health England and Police UK and made available for your area at standard geographies such as counties, districts and wards and census output areas. This premium service can be consumed as online web services or on-premise for use throughout the ArcGIS system.Read more about the NDS.

Dataset population: Persons

Religion (detailed)

This is a person's current religion, or if the person does not have a religion, 'No religion'. No determination is made about whether a person was a practicing member of a religion. Unlike other census questions where missing answers are imputed, this question was voluntary, and where no answer was provided the response is categorised as 'Not stated'.

Office for National Statistics' national and subnational Census 2021. Schoolchildren and full-time studentsThis dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify all usual residents aged 5 years and over in England and Wales. The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021. Schoolchild or full-time student indicator definition: Indicates whether a person aged 5 years and over was in full-time education on Census Day, 21 March 2021. This includes schoolchildren and adults in full-time education.Schoolchildren and students in full-time education studying away from home are treated as usually resident at their term-time address.Comparability with 2011: Broadly comparable.We have removed the category Schoolchild or full-time student for Census 2021 and replaced it with Student. In the 2011 Census people aged 4 years and over were asked to answer the question, in Census 2021 people aged 5 years and over were asked to answer the question. This data is issued at (BGC) Generalised (20m) boundary type for:Country - England and WalesRegion - EnglandUTLA - England and WalesLTLA - England and WalesWard - England and WalesMSOA - England and WalesLSOA - England and WalesOA - England and WalesIf you require the data at full resolution boundaries, or if you are interested in the range of statistical data that Esri UK make available in ArcGIS Online please enquire at content@esriuk.com.The data services available from this page are derived from the National Data Service. The NDS delivers thousands of open national statistical indicators for the UK as data-as-a-service. Data are sourced from major providers such as the Office for National Statistics, Public Health England and Police UK and made available for your area at standard geographies such as counties, districts and wards and census output areas. This premium service can be consumed as online web services or on-premise for use throughout the ArcGIS system.Read more about the NDS.

The Census was held on 27 March 2011, and is a key source of information on the Welsh language. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for the Census in Wales and England. The 2011 Census question asked “Can you understand, speak, read or write Welsh” - answered by ticking one or more of five boxes (one for each category and one for “None of these”) in any combination. This question was only asked in Wales, and results are presented for those aged 3 and over. The Census did not collect information on fluency levels or on frequency of use.

This dataset provides Census 2022 estimates for the Ethnic Group by Individuals in Scotland.

Ethnic group

Ethnic group classifies people according to their own perceived ethnic group and cultural background. Whilst the main ethnic group categories have not changed from the question asked in Census 2011, some of the detailed response options and write-in prompts for Scotland's Census 2022 were changed based on stakeholder engagement and subsequent question testing.

Details of classification can be found here

The quality assurance report can be found here

This dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify usual residents aged 16 years and over in England and Wales by highest level of qualification and by sex. The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021.

There are quality considerations about higher education qualifications, including those at Level 4+, responses from older people and international migrants, and comparability with 2011 Census data. Read more about this quality notice.

Area type

Census 2021 statistics are published for a number of different geographies. These can be large, for example the whole of England, or small, for example an output area (OA), the lowest level of geography for which statistics are produced.

For higher levels of geography, more detailed statistics can be produced. When a lower level of geography is used, such as output areas (which have a minimum of 100 persons), the statistics produced have less detail. This is to protect the confidentiality of people and ensure that individuals or their characteristics cannot be identified.

Lower tier local authorities

Lower tier local authorities provide a range of local services. There are 309 lower tier local authorities in England made up of 181 non-metropolitan districts, 59 unitary authorities, 36 metropolitan districts and 33 London boroughs (including City of London). In Wales there are 22 local authorities made up of 22 unitary authorities.

Coverage

Census 2021 statistics are published for the whole of England and Wales. However, you can choose to filter areas by:

• country - for example, Wales
• region - for example, London
• local authority - for example, Cornwall
• health area – for example, Clinical Commissioning Group
• statistical area - for example, MSOA or LSOA

Highest level of qualification

The highest level of qualification is derived from the question asking people to indicate all qualifications held, or their nearest equivalent.

This may include foreign qualifications where they were matched to the closest UK equivalent.

Sex

This is the sex recorded by the person completing the census. The options were “Female” and “Male”.

This dataset provides Census 2022 estimates for the Ethnic Group (in 21 categories) by age (in 20 categories) in Scotland.

Age

A person's age on Census Day, 20 March 2022. Infants aged under 1 year are classified as 0 years of age.

Ethnic group

Ethnic group classifies people according to their own perceived ethnic group and cultural background. Whilst the main ethnic group categories have not changed from the question asked in Census 2011, some of the detailed response options and write-in prompts for Scotland's Census 2022 were changed based on stakeholder engagement and subsequent question testing.

Details of classification can be found here

The quality assurance report can be found here

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The General Household Survey (GHS), ran from 1971-2011 (the UKDS holds data from 1972-2011). It was a continuous annual national survey of people living in private households, conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The main aim of the survey was to collect data on a range of core topics, covering household, family and individual information. This information was used by government departments and other organisations for planning, policy and monitoring purposes, and to present a picture of households, families and people in Great Britain. In 2008, the GHS became a module of the Integrated Household Survey (IHS). In recognition, the survey was renamed the General Lifestyle Survey (GLF). The GLF closed in January 2012. The 2011 GLF is therefore the last in the series. A limited number of questions previously run on the GLF were subsequently included in the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN).

Secure Access GHS/GLF
The UKDS holds standard access End User Licence (EUL) data for 1972-2006. A Secure Access version is available, covering the years 2000-2011 - see SN 6716 General Lifestyle Survey, 2000-2011: Secure Access.

History
The GHS was conducted annually until 2011, except for breaks in 1997-1998 when the survey was reviewed, and 1999-2000 when the survey was redeveloped. Further information may be found in the ONS document An overview of 40 years of data (General Lifestyle Survey Overview - a report on the 2011 General Lifestyle Survey) (PDF). Details of changes each year may be found in the individual study documentation.

EU-SILC
In 2005, the European Union (EU) made a legal obligation (EU-SILC) for member states to collect additional statistics on income and living conditions. In addition, the EU-SILC data cover poverty and social exclusion. These statistics are used to help plan and monitor European social policy by comparing poverty indicators and changes over time across the EU. The EU-SILC requirement was integrated into the GHS/GLF in 2005. After the closure of the GLF, EU-SILC was collected via the Family Resources Survey (FRS) until the UK left the EU in 2020.

Reformatted GHS data 1973-1982 - Surrey SPSS Files
SPSS files were created by the University of Surrey for all GHS years from 1973 to 1982 inclusive. The early files were restructured and the case changed from the household to the individual with all of the household information duplicated for each individual. The Surrey SPSS files contain all the original variables as well as some extra derived variables (a few variables were omitted from the data files for 1973-76). In 1973 only, the section on leisure was not included in the Surrey SPSS files. This has subsequently been made available, however, and is now held in a separate study, General Household Survey, 1973: Leisure Questions (SN 3982). Records for the original GHS 1973-1982 ASCII files have been removed from the UK Data Archive catalogue, but the data are still preserved and available upon request.

Main Topics:

The main GHS consisted of a household questionnaire, completed by the Household Reference Person (HRP), and an individual questionnaire, completed by all adults aged 16 and over resident in the household. A number of different trailers each year covering extra topics were included in later (post-review) surveys in the series from 2000.

• The household questionnaire covered the following topics: household information, accommodation type, housing tenure/costs, and consumer durables including vehicle ownership.
• The individual questionnaire included data from the household dataset, and additional sections on migration/citizenship/national identity/ethnicity, employment, pensions, education, health, child care, smoking, drinking, family information, financial situation, and income.