This dataset is a March 2021 UK estimates for a range of census topics. Based on Census 2021 totals for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, added to estimated equivalent values derived from Scotland’s Census 2022. This is created by ONS Census Customer Services.
Methodology
Here is the Quality and methods guide for census-based statistics UK: 2021.
These data have been created to provide an image of how UK census data may have looked if the most recent UK censuses had been conducted with an aligned date of 21 March 2021. They provide census-based estimates of the usual resident population and of households in the UK, Great Britain, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland and England and Wales combined.
These data contain estimates for a range of topics, based on data from the three most recent UK censuses:
- Census of England and Wales, 21 March 2021; conducted by the Office for National Statistics
- Census of Northern Ireland, 21 March 2021; conducted by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency
- Census of Scotland, 20 March 2022; conducted by National Records of Scotland
Data for England, Wales and Northern Ireland are taken from Census 2021 results, while data for Scotland are based on interpolated Census 2011 and 2022 results and adjusted to ensure they are in line with mid-year estimates for Scotland.
Census source data used to construct these tables have been taken from Census 2021 data for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and Census 2011 and Census 2022 data for Scotland, all of which are publicly available.
Some of the data used in the construction of this publication are from previously published commissioned census datasets and custom datasets for Census 2021 and Census 2022, constructed using custom data tools on the ONS, NISRA and NRS websites.
It is important to emphasise that statistics presented in this publication for Scotland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, although derived from census statistics, are not considered to be census statistics themselves, but rather census-based statistics. For Scotland, statistics from Census 2022 remain the definitive census statistics.
Accreditation status
All source data used to create this publication have been granted Accredited Official Statistics by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR).
This means they have been independently reviewed by OSR and found to comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value as set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics. This means that they:
- meet identified user needs
- are well explained and easily accessible
- are produced based on appropriate data and methods
- are managed impartially and objectively in the public interest
This accreditation status is retained for the statistics in this dataset for England and Wales (separately and combined) and for Northern Ireland.
However, the statistics in this dataset for Scotland, Great Britain and the UK have just Official Statistics status, without accreditation.
The ONS have agreed this labelling with OSR, in recognition that methods required to create Scottish data for 2021, while pragmatic, necessarily involves greater uncertainty than had there been an actual data collection at that time.