The Census has been held every 10 years since 1801. It is the only survey that covers every single member of the population. In 2001 it was based on people’s ‘usual residence’ unlike previous years when it was based on where people actually were on the ‘Census night’. The Census provides information that is very useful for planning services (eg by local, regional or national government, health services). The data are analysed by ONS and are then released in batches when they have been checked, with more complex analyses taking longer to appear. The individual data remain confidential, so some tables on our website have missing data from some cells if there are very few people or households in that category who might therefore be identifiable.

The tables we have on our website are of crude numbers and rates, not age and sex-adjusted. This is useful for planning services but means that comparisons across different areas are not comparing like with like. For example, ill-health is more common in older people. So differences in health status in different boroughs with an older or younger population on average does not necessarily mean that “this borough is a less healthy place to live than that borough.

The decennial census forms the core for many descriptive statistics of local individual and environmental conditions that affect health. Moreover, census based statistics can often be combined into composite measures of deprivation. The strengths of the census are the breadth of topics that it covers and the population coverage - almost every one in the country. The disadvantages are:

• the data is only collected at ten year intervals
• elements of census data are carefully defined - it is important that these definitions and some of the restrictions are understood
• the census does not ask directly about household or individual income. As a consequence, indicators of deprivation have sought to assess the levels of material wealth indirectly.

Census data can be accessed in a number of ways:

• Through the Neighbourhood Statistics Website.
• For the NHS in London, access to Census data through SASPAC is also available. Please contact .

A wide range of variables covers issues such as:

• Living Arrangements
• Marital status
• Country of Birth
• Ethnic group
• Religion
• Health and provision of unpaid care
• Economic activity
• Hours worked
• Industry of employment
• Occupation groups
• Qualifications and students
• Socio-economic Classification
• Travel to work
• Household spaces and accommodation type
• Cars or vans
• Tenure
• Rooms, amenities, central heating and lowest floor level
• Household composition
• Limiting long term illness
• Lone parent households with dependent children
• Communal establishment residents

The results of the census are often presented as standard reports which cross-tabulate different combinations of these variables at different levels of geographic aggregation. Very often these can be used in combination to provide the variable of choice e.g. children in households with non-earning adults. More sophisticated analyses are also possible, but these may have to be requested specially and based on the sample of anonymised records (SARs).

Census data can be accessed in a number of ways:

• Through the ONS Website.
• For PCTs in London, access to Census data through SASPAC is also available. Please contact .

You must hold a licence to reuse government information which is covered by Crown Copyright. If you wish to publish or use Census information in your publications, please take out a licence. You can obtain one from the HMSO website.

Please check the definitions before using the data

The National report for England and Wales contains 145 statistical tables covering the range of topics from the 2001 Census. Results are provided for England and Wales as a whole, in a variety of tables as follows:

Standard Tables - These tables provide a cross-tabulation of two or more Census variables.

Theme Tables - These tables bring together a range of results on a particular population, such as dependent children.

Supplementary tables - In addition to the cross-tabulations provided in Standard and Theme Tables, this report includes some supplementary tables providing further information on some individual variables, or specific counts of interest.

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