Version: 1.0.0 | Published: 8 Oct 2024 | Updated: 229 days ago
Documentation
Associated Media:
Description:
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 21 March 2021.
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.
A usual resident is anyone who on Census Day, 21 March 2021 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.
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.
Note: variables RELAT06, RELAT11, RELAT16, RELAT21, RELAT26, GENDER_IDENTITY are not available in the data
Coverage
Spatial:
United Kingdom,England; United Kingdom,Wales
Typical Age Range:
0-120
Follow Up:
Unknown
Provenance
Origin
Purposes:
Administrative
Sources:
Other
Collection Situations:
- Community
- Home
- Other
Temporal
Accrual Periodicity:
Static
Distribution Release Date:
27 June 2022
Start Date:
21 March 2021
End Date:
21 March 2021
Time Lag:
Other
Accessibility
Access
Access Service:
The SAIL Databank is powered by the UK Secure e-Research Platform (UKSeRP).
Following approval through safeguard processes, access to project-specific data
within the secure environment is permitted using two-factor authentication.
Access Request Cost:
Data provision is free from SAIL. Overall project costing depends on the number
of people that require access to the SAIL Gateway, the activities that SAIL
needs to complete (e.g. loading non-standard datasets), data refreshes,
analytical work required, disclosure control process, and special case
technological requirements.
Delivery Lead Time:
Not applicable
Jurisdictions:
GB-WLS
Data Controller:
Office for National Statistics
Data Processor:
SAIL Databank
Usage
Data Use Limitations:
Research-specific restrictions
Data Use Requirements:
Project-specific restrictions
Resource Creators:
Office for National Statistics
Format and Standards
Vocabulary Encoding Schemes:
LOCAL
Languages:
en
Formats:
SQL database table
Observations
Statistical Population
Population Description
Population Size
Measured Property
Observation Date
Persons
59597300
Count
21 March 2021