The Great Britain Historical Database has been assembled as part of the ongoing Great Britain Historical GIS Project. The project aims to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain at sub-county scales. Further information about the project is available on A Vision of Britain webpages, where users can browse the database's documentation system online.

The British census reports generally cross-tabulated age against marital status as well as gender, but the transcriptions in the Great Britain Historical Database are generally limited to age and gender, enabling the construction of population pyramids. This dataset is a quite separate transcription limited to marital status, or "conjugal condition", and gender, held only for Scotland in 1931.

Latest edition information

For the second edition (August 2022), the data and documentation files were replaced with updated versions.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Great Britain Historical Database has been assembled as part of the ongoing Great Britain Historical GIS Project. The project aims to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain at sub-county scales. Further information about the project is available on A Vision of Britain webpages, where users can browse the database's documentation system online.

These data were originally collected by the Censuses of Population for England and Wales, and for Scotland. They were computerised by the Great Britain Historical GIS Project and its collaborators. They form part of the Great Britain Historical Database, which contains a wide range of geographically-located statistics, selected to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain, generally at sub-county scales.

Up to 1931, the only information on housing conditions gathered by the census was on density (persons per room). In 1951 a new set of questions was added on amenities: for example, whether a household had access to a "WC" (toilet), and whether that access was shared. Successive censuses changed the list of amenities, as access to amenities such as running water became universal

This is a new edition. Data from the Census of Scotland have been added for 1951, 1961 and 1971. Wherever possible, ID numbers have been added for counties and districts which match those used in the digital boundary data created by the GBH GIS, greatly simplifying mapping.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The Great Britain Historical Database has been assembled as part of the ongoing Great Britain Historical GIS Project. The project aims to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain at sub-county scales. Further information about the project is available on A Vision of Britain webpages, where users can browse the database's documentation system online. The Great Britain Historical GIS Project has also produced digitised boundary data, which can be obtained from the UK Data Service Census Support service. Further information is available at census.ukdataservice.ac.uk Main Topics: The Great Britain Historical Database is a large database of British nineteenth and twentieth-century statistics. Where practical the referencing of spatial units has been integrated, data for different dates have been assembled into single tables. The Great Britain Historical Database currently contains :Statistics from the 1861 Census and the Registrar General's reports, 1851-1861 Employment statistics from the census, 1841-1931 Demographic statistics from the census, 1841-1931 Mortality statistics from the Registrar General's reports, 1861-1920 Marriage statistics from the Registrar General's reports, 1841-1870 Trade union statistics for the Amalgamated Society of Engineers (ASE), 1851-1918 Trade union statistics for the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners (ASCJ), 1863-1912 Official poor law statistics, 1859-1915 and 1919-1939 Wage statistics, 1845-1906 Hours of work statistics, 1900-1913 Small debt statistics from county courts, 1847-1913 and 1938 There are five tables in this part of the Great Britain Historical Database : Rd_pop holds population totals for all registration districts in England and Wales for each census from 1841 to 1911. Pop_chan holds details of population changes between censuses for all registration districts in England and Wales for each inter-censal period from 1851-1861 to 1901-1911. Age_sex holds the number of males and females in 5 year age groups for all registration districts in England and Wales for each census from 1851 to 1911, and for all local government districts for each census from 1921 to 1931. Age_1901 holds a full transcript of the number of males and females in 5 year age groups for all registration districts in England and Wales for the 1901 census with greater detail for ages 13 to 20. Rd_gaz converts the names of registration districts which appear in the database into the forms used in the GIS. Rd_gis holds the names and counties of registration districts as they appear in the GIS, and is used for checking names and constructing rd_gaz. Please note: this study does not include information on named individuals and would therefore not be useful for personal family history research.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The Great Britain Historical Database has been assembled as part of the ongoing Great Britain Historical GIS Project. The project aims to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain at sub-county scales. Further information about the project is available on A Vision of Britain webpages, where users can browse the database's documentation system online. These data were originally collected by the Censuses of Population for England and Wales, and for Scotland. They were computerised by the Great Britain Historical GIS Project and its collaborators. They form part of the Great Britain Historical Database, which contains a wide range of geographically-located statistics, selected to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain, generally at sub-county scales. The census gathered data on levels of educational attainment only from 1951. In 1951 and 1961, attainment was measured simply by the age at which a person's education was completed, rather than by the level of qualifications achieved. These data cover, broadly, the adult population, including many people who had completed their education decades before the relevant census, so the data are indicative of the general level of education of the workforce at the census date, but are a problematic guide to the performance of the education system at that date. The census reports also include cross-tabulations of age of education completion with current age, but not with the level of geographical detail of the transcribed tables. The 1951 data for England and Wales were computerised by Danny Dorling (now of Oxford University), as part of research funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.Latest edition information:For the 2nd edition (June 2021), data for Scotland for 1951 and data for England & Wales and Scotland for 1961 have been added to the study. Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE / Style Definitions / table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:107%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} Main Topics: Level of education of the adult or occupied population, measured by their age at termination of education. Please note: this study does not include information on named individuals and would therefore not be useful for personal family history research. Purposive selection/case studies

The total population in the United Kingdom was estimated at 69.2 million people in 2024, according to the latest census figures and projections from Trading Economics. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - United Kingdom Population - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

🇬🇧 United Kingdom English Estimates of London's population between 1801 and 2021 (persons present 1801 to 1971 and usual residents for 1981 to 2021) derived from historic Census data. Figures for years before 1931 are estimates by the Greater London Council published in Research Memorandum 413, 'The Changing Population of the London Boroughs'. Figures for 1931, 1951, and 1961 were published in 'Census 1961 Greater London Tables'; Figures for 1971 to 2021 are taken from individual censuses.

National and subnational mid-year population estimates for the UK and its constituent countries by administrative area, age and sex (including components of population change, median age and population density).

In 2023, the population of the United Kingdom reached 68.3 million, compared with 67.6 million in 2022. The UK population has more than doubled since 1871 when just under 31.5 million lived in the UK and has grown by around 8.2 million since the start of the twenty-first century. For most of the twentieth century, the UK population steadily increased, with two noticeable drops in population occurring during World War One (1914-1918) and in World War Two (1939-1945). Demographic trends in postwar Britain After World War Two, Britain and many other countries in the Western world experienced a 'baby boom,' with a postwar peak of 1.02 million live births in 1947. Although the number of births fell between 1948 and 1955, they increased again between the mid-1950s and mid-1960s, with more than one million people born in 1964. Since 1964, however, the UK birth rate has fallen from 18.8 births per 1,000 people to a low of just 10.2 in 2020. As a result, the UK population has gotten significantly older, with the country's median age increasing from 37.9 years in 2001 to 40.7 years in 2022. What are the most populated areas of the UK? The vast majority of people in the UK live in England, which had a population of 57.7 million people in 2023. By comparison, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland had populations of 5.44 million, 3.13 million, and 1.9 million, respectively. Within England, South East England had the largest population, at over 9.38 million, followed by the UK's vast capital city of London, at 8.8 million. London is far larger than any other UK city in terms of urban agglomeration, with just four other cities; Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, and Glasgow, boasting populations that exceed one million people.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The Great Britain Historical Database has been assembled as part of the ongoing Great Britain Historical GIS Project. The project aims to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain at sub-county scales. Further information about the project is available on A Vision of Britain webpages, where users can browse the database's documentation system online. Main Topics: Parish level statistics for England, Wales and Scotland taken from the 1801, 1811, 1851, 1891, 1911, 1931 and 1951 censuses. Parish level statistics for England and Wales taken from the 1831 and 1871 censuses. Parish level statistics for England taken from the 1821 and 1841 censuses. Parish level statistics for Scotland taken from the 1881 census. Please note: this study does not include information on named individuals and would therefore not be useful for personal family history research. Purposive selection/case studies Transcription of existing materials Compilation or synthesis of existing material

This dataset contains a variety of demographic measures (related to fertility, marriage, mortality and migration), plus a range of socio-economic indicators (related to households, age structure, and social class) for the 2000+ Registration Sub Districts (RSDs) in England and Wales for each census year between 1851 and 1911, and for the 600+ Registration Districts of Scotland 1851-1901.

The measures have mainly been derived from the computerised individual level census enumerators' books (and household schedules for 1911) enhanced under the I-CeM project. I-CeM does not currently include data for England and Wales 1871, although the project has been able to access a version of the data for that year it does not contain information necessary to calculate many of the variables presented here. Scotland 1911 is also not available. Users should therefore beware that 1871 does not contain data for many of the variables.

Additional data has been derived from the tables summarising numbers of births and deaths by year and areas, which were published by the Registrar General of England and Wales in his quarterly, annual and decennial reports of births, deaths and marriages.

Data from the decennial reports was obtained from Woods (SN 3552) and we transcribed data from the quarterly and annual reports ourselves. Counts of births and deaths for Scottish Registration Districts were obtained from the Digitising Scotland project at the University of Edinburgh.

For more information on this dataset, please also see the file: PopulationsPastData_readme.txt.

These digital boundaries were created by the Great Britain Historical GIS Project and form part of the Great Britain Historical Database, which contains a wide range of geographically-located statistics, selected to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain, generally at sub-county scales.

They represent the boundaries of Registration Districts in England and Wales as in use at the date of each Census of Population between 1851 and 1911, 1911 being the last census to report extensively on these units.

Estimates of London's population between 1801 and 2001 (persons present 1801 to 1991 and residents for 2001 onwards) derived from historic Census data.

Sources: years to 1971 - Greater London Council Research Memorandum 413, The Changing Population of the London Boroughs; 1981 Census Small Area Statistics, Table 1; 1991 Census Small Area Statistics, Table 1. Figure for Year-1939 is a mid-year estimate for the year 1939. Figure for Year-2001 onwards is the number of residents because the number of persons present is not available from 2001. Note that totals for Greater London may not match due to rounding errors. Figures are estimates to the nearest thousand.

The Census@Leicester datasets include socio-demographic data from the 2001, 2011, and 2021 Leicester censuses to enable the exploration of recent historical trends. It also includes data from the 2021 census for both Nottingham and Coventry to enable comparisons with other cities.

This online resource that can be used for teaching and research purposes by staff and students and to create a legacy for the Census@Leicester Project.

This dataset contains Adjustment Weights for the 1891-1911 England and Wales censuses and corresponds to Supplementary material for the paper "The Population of Non-corporate Business Proprietors in England and Wales 1891-1911", by Bennett, Robert J., Montebruno, Piero, Smith, Harry J. as an outcome of the ESRC project ES/M010953: Drivers of Entrepreneurship and Small Businesses PI Prof. Robert J. Bennett.

The material consists of three raw text files

1. 1891 Employment status & Weights
2. 1901 Employment status & Weights
3. 1911 Employment status & Weights

Each file has the three following variables:

1. newRecID: the ID for I-CEM2 as in Higgs, Edward and Schürer, Kevin (University of Essex) (2014) The Integrated Census Microdata (I-CeM) UKDA, SN-7481; K. Schürer, E. Higgs, A.M. Reid, E.M Garrett, Integrated Census Microdata, 1851-1911, version V. 2 (I-CeM.2), (2016) [data collection] UK Data Service SN: 7481

2. Employment status: 1 Worker 2 Employer 3 Own-account

3. Weights: the inverse of the probability of giving an answer to the Employment Status question of the censuses by Sex and Relationship to the head of the family.

A detailed explanation of how these weights were calculated and how to use them in the context of data analysis of this censuses can be found in the accompanying working paper, Montebruno, Piero (2018) ‘Adjustment Weights 1891-1911: Weights to adjust entrepreneurs taking account of non-response and misallocation bias in Censuses 1891-1911’, Working Paper 11: ESRC project ES/M010953: ‘Drivers of Entrepreneurship and Small Businesses’, University of Cambridge, Department of Geography and Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure.

The files can be opened by any text editor, database management system (Access) or statistical package (Stata, SPSS)

This dataset should be cited as Adjustment Weights 1891-1911, "The Population of Non-corporate Business Proprietors in England and Wales 1891-1911", by Bennett, Robert J., Montebruno, Piero, Smith, Harry J. Please cite using its DOI.

This zip file contains the Code History Database for the United Kingdom as at December 2018. To download the zip file click the Download button. The Code History Database (CHD) contains the GSS nine-character codes, where allocated, for current and new statistical geographies from 1 January 2009. The codes consist of a simple alphanumeric structure; the first three characters (ANN) represent the area entity (i.e. type; or category of geography) and the following six characters (NNNNNN) represent the specific area instance. The CHD provides multiple functionality including details of codes, relationships, hierarchies and archived data. The CHD can be used in conjunction with the Register of Geographic Codes (RGC) that summarises the range of area instances within each geographic entity. The GSS Coding and Naming policy for some statistical geographies was implemented on 1 January 2011. From this date, where new codes have been allocated they should be used in all exchanges of statistics and published outputs that normally include codes. For further information on this product, please read the user guide and version notes contained within the product zip file. (File size - 67 MB)Updated Geographies• Updates to Parishes (E04), Wards (E05), Enterprise Zones (E49), and County Electoral Divisions (E58)• Updates to Electoral Wards (S13)• New Entity for Scottish Marine Regions (S41)• Update to Community Safety Partnerships (W14)• New Entities for 1961 Census Parishes (J02), 1961 Census Wards (J03), 1961 Census LADs (J04) and 1961 Census Counties (J05)Database Changes• Updates to form design to account for December 2018 version have been made.

An Act for ascertaining the Number of the Inhabitants of the Colony of New South Wales in the Year One thousand eight hundred and forty-one, 1840 (4 Victoria Act No. 26) required every householder, employer of servants and proprietor and occupier of land to complete the census schedule on the second day ('or on the days immediately subsequent thereto') of March 1841.

The 1841 Census was more complete than its predecessors, as the population was recorded in police districts, counties and towns. There was a broader tabulation of results which included age groups, conjugal condition (married or unmarried), religious denomination and civil condition. Civil condition provided statistical information on the number of bond (convict) or free males and females in a household, whether they were born in the colony, arrived free, held a ticket of leave, and whether they were in government employment or private assignment.

The Census was taken by specially appointed collectors generally responsible to a Commissioner or a Bench of Magistrates, the collector completed printed forms, known as Form ‘A’ for each household in the allotted territory. After the Census magistrates were instructed to check the returns and send abstracts to the Colonial Secretary, designated Form ‘C’. The returns were then gathered together, statistics extracted and the final returns made.

This series comprises bound volumes of Form C . (NRS 1281).

The Form C records: number of return, name of establishment (usually head of household), number of each age group for males, and then for females (the age divisions are under two, two and under seven, seven and under 14, 14 and under 21, 21 and under 45, 45 and under 60, 60 and upwards); married or single; civil condition: free (born in colony, arrived free, other free persons), bond (ticket of leave, in government employment, in private assignment); then religion divided into Church of England, Church of Scotland, Wesleyan Methodists, other Protestant dissenters, Roman Catholics, Jews, Mohammedans and Pagans; occupation divided into land proprietors, merchants, bankers, and professional men; shopkeepers and other retail dealers; mechanics and artificers; shepherds and others in the care of sheep; gardeners, stockmen and persons employed in agriculture; domestic servants; all other persons not included in the foregoing classes; totals for males, for females, and for both; houses - further divided into stone or brick, wood, total; finished or unfinished; inhabited or uninhabited. The columns are totalled at the bottom of each sheet.

As well as these Abstracts of returns, there are also a number of "condensed" abstracts of returns, filled in on Form C. These enumerate the running numbers covered by each sheet of abstracts eg. one-20, 21-40 and give sums for each group as well as grand total.

Form C abstracts are arranged by district following the order in the Returns of the Colony for 1841. 'Condensed' Abstracts are filed with the district abstracts to which they pertain.

Berrima-Port Phillip (X946-49)
Queanbeyan-Yass (X950-51)

References
1) State Records New South Wales Website, "Concise Guide to the State Archives (Ca - Commissioners): Colonial Secretary, later Chief Secretary, later Services; s. Population and Statistics, a. Musters and Census Records, ii. Census,23. 1841 Census: Abstracts of returns, CGS 1282."
2) State Records New South Wales Website, "Introduction to the 1841 Census: Index to the 1841 Census, Background".
3) State Records New South Wales Website, "Short Guide 12 - Muster and Census Records, 1788 - 1901".

Census estimates on the migration of people in the UK and the movement of working people in England and Wales.

This zip file contains the Code History Database for the United Kingdom as at July 2024. (File size: 50.5 MB)To download the zip file click the Download button.Updates in England to: Civil Parishes (E04), Electoral Wards/Divisions (E05), Westminster Parliamentary Constituencies (E14), Local Enterprise Partnerships (E37), NHS England Regions (E40), Non-Civil Parished Areas (E43), Combined Authorities (E47), LEP - overlapping part (E52), LEP - non overlapping part (E53), Cancer Alliances (E56), Built Up Areas (E63). Built Up Areas (K08), Non-Standard Geography Categories (K99).

Updates in Northern Ireland to: Westminster Parliamentary Constituencies (N05), Westminster Parliamentary Constituencies (N06).

Updates in Scotland to: Output Areas (S00), Westminster Parliamentary Constituencies (S14), Island Groups (S36), Built Up Areas (S45).

New Entities introduced: Census Locality (S52), Census Settlement (S53).

Updates in Wales to: Westminster Parliamentary Constituencies (W07), Built Up Areas (W45).