Western Libraries

Government Publications Guide

United Kingdom - Census

A census is a count of all people and households in the country. It provides population statistics from a national to neighbourhood level for government, local authorities, business and communities. The last census for England and Wales was on 27 March 2011.

Office for National Statistics. Census: This website provides access to the official census for England and Wales for the 2001 census. It also provides links to the census for General Registry Office - Census for Scotland, and the Northern Ireland Research Agency - Census. Also included is an interesting webpage on census history.

National Archives. Census Records: The National Archives is the United Kingdom government's official archive, containing over 1,000 years of history. The Census division contains Census records for England and Wales from 1841 to 1911.

HistPop.org: The Online Historical Population Reports (OHPR) collection provides online access to the complete British population reports for Britain and Ireland from 1801 to 1937.

The collection goes far beyond the basic population reports with a wealth of textual and statistical material which provide an in-depth view of the economy, society (through births, deaths and marriages) and medicine during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

These 200,000 pages of census and registration material for the British Isles are supported by numerous ancillary documents from The National Archives, critical essays and transcriptions of important legislation which provide an aid to understanding the context, content and creation of the collection.
In digitizing this resource the OHPR has enabled Browsing through the collection by date or geography, or Searching the content directly. Documents relating to the digitization and web development process may be accessed via the Project tab.