Census

The Census Historical Data Support (CHDS) Team has embarked on a series of projects to digitise historical census outputs and make them publicly available. The first of these ‘statistical archaeology’ projects is focused on the 1961 Census Small Area Statistics (SAS).

ONS has released a new 2011 Area Classification for Output Areas (2011 OAC), produced by University College London on behalf of ONS. With this three-tier classification, the release includes, cluster codes and names for the 8 supergroups, 26 groups and 76 subgroups in the classification for all UK output areas, together with supporting material, including a map for the supergroups and groups, a methodology note, pen portraits describing each of the supergroups/groups/subgroups, and radial plots showing the value of 60 Census variables used to produce the OAC.

Gateway page to ONS information on 2011.

This page from the ONS website provides information on the area classifications derived from 2011 Census data.

Origin-destination data (also known as flow data) includes the travel-to-work and migration patterns of individuals, cross-tabulated by variables of interest (for example occupation).

This release contains detailed geographical breakdowns and detailed Quick Statistics tables for residents' characteristics.

The statistics in this release are a new presentation of the data released as part of the Key Statistics and Quick Statistics for output areas in England and Wales that were published 30 January 2013. They provide new best fit aggregations of these statistics for health administration areas and postcode sectors in England and Wales, and also for National Assembly for Wales constituencies and Assembly for Wales electoral regions. The estimates are best-fitted from output areas in line with the Geography Policy for National Statistics.

The Key and Quick Statistics tables for the United Kingdom bring together data from the 2011 Censuses conducted in England and Wales, in Scotland, and in Northern Ireland, to provide UK harmonised data for areas throughout the United Kingdom. These UK tables were released by ONS in 2014 as downloadable files, and have now been added to the wide range of Census data available through nomis

The latest reports and presentations can be downloaded from here:

The AMSR (Archive of Market and Social Research) have recently added several 1961 Census reports, showing how census results were published in those days, and a much more recent presentation explaining the Classification of Workplace Zones from the 2011 Census.

A series of paper published by ONS as part of the Beyond 2011 programme.

The UK Data Service home page for census flow data. Census flow data (also known as interaction data) relate to the movement of people between places. These can be regular short distance moves such as the daily commute to work, or less frequent - and sometimes longer distance - moves such as migration to a new home or an extended stay in a second address.

Flow data differ from other Census data in that they link two locations - an origin and a destination. With two geographies, flow datasets can be much larger than other Census data products."

The home page for the UK Data Service Census Support. The site contains information on a huge range of census-related issues.

On-line access to the latest census news released by the General Register Office for Scotland.

On-line access to the latest census news released by the Office for National Statistics.

This page provides links to the consultations that have taken place on the 2021 Census.

The concept of a Household Reference Person (HRP) was introduced in the 2001 Census (in common with other government surveys in 2001/2) to replace the traditional concept of the 'head of the household'. HRPs provide an individual person within a household to act as a reference point for producing further derived statistics and for characterising a whole household according to characteristics of the chosen reference person.

The official UK government site for UK statistics and research

The ONS site for the 2011 Census, containing links to all aspects of 2011.

The Office for National Statistics is the UK's largest independent producer of official statistics, covering the UK's economy, society and population, including the UK Census. It is the recognised UK National Statistical Institute.The new complete redesigned ONS website has been launched, following extensive feedback from the July 2015 Beta version. The search and navigation tools have been significantly improved, as has the overall performance and general appearance. Nearly 150,000 redirects enable users to find existing content and much of the older content that has been moved to the National ArchivesONS is retaining a full time team to regularly maintain and enhance the website. More about development of the new website is available in the Digital Publishing Blog.

The official website of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. The site contains plans for the 2021 Census, details about the 2011 Census and earlier censuses.

ONS invited views on their initial proposed design of 2021 Census outputs and the dissemination channels for England and Wales.

The consultation covered all aspects of 2021 Census outputs. This included their plans for a flexible dissemination system to access the majority of census data, and the approach for statistical disclosure control for 2021 Census outputs. They also informed users of the plans for specialist products (including microdata and origin-destination products), geography and the use of administrative data to improve and supplement outputs.

They consulted with users to:

obtain feedback on the proposed design and method of dissemination for 2021 Census data
help them prioritise our future research and development of 2021 Census outputs
inform the order in which they release products after 2021 Census
understand user requirements for a variety of census products

ONS have published Key Statistics for local authorities in England and Wales from the 2011 Census. This release marks the beginning of the release of detailed information about the characteristics of the people living in England and Wales on 27 March 2011. The data can be accessed from here:

A report on the population estimates of the UK by age and sex, from the 2011 Census

National Records of Scotland are planning to carry out a census in March 2022. This website provides the design and plans for the operation.

Please see the official website of National Records Scotland. This organisation is planning the 2021 Census in Scotland. 

Social Grade is the 'common currency' social classification (the 'ABC1' system) used by the advertising industry and employed throughout marketing and market research. This site provides details of the new approximation to Social Grade available in the outputs from the 2011 Census. A report is available which describes the development of the algorithm and accuracy achieved, and evaluates the discriminatory power of the approximation in comparison with ‘true’ Social Grade. 

The UK Statistics Authority has made its recommendations on the content and conduct of the 2021 Census. The census is planned to take place on 21 March 2021. A White Paper was published on Friday 14 December 2018.

UNECE is one of five regional commissions of the United Nations. It holds annual workshops and expert meetings on international censuses and aspects of data collection.

This article overviews research into the use of Valuation Office Agency (VOA) data for estimating the number of rooms in the 2021 Census, and for measuring overcrowding.