Sample characteristics: United Kingdom
| Census/survey characteristics | |
| Type | Census |
| Title | Census of the Population 1851 |
| Statistical agency | Secretary of State |
| Population universe | All persons who slept in an dwelling in the country on the night of March 30, 1851 |
| De jure or de facto | De facto |
| Census/survey day | March 31, 1851 |
| Field work period | March 31, 1851 |
| Questionnaire | A single household form collected information on individual characteristics |
| Type of fieldwork | Self-emumeration and direct enumeration |
| Microdata sample characteristics | |
| Sample design | Not applicable |
| Sample fraction | 1 |
| Sample size (person records) | 17711044 |
| Sample weights | Not applicable |
| Units identified in microdata | |
| Dwellings | No |
| Vacant units | No |
| Households | Yes |
| Collective dwellings | Yes |
| Smallest geography | Parish |
| Unit definitions | |
| Households | Where houses were let or sub-let to different persons or families, in separate stories or apartments, the single occupier or head of household of each such story or apartment completed a separate household schedule |
| Census/survey characteristics | |
| Type | Census |
| Title | Census of the Population 1851 |
| Statistical agency | Secretary of State |
| Population universe | All persons who slept in a dwelling in the country on the night of March 30, 1851 |
| De jure or de facto | De facto |
| Census/survey day | March 31, 1851 |
| Field work period | March 31, 1851 |
| Questionnaire | A single household form collected information on individual characteristics |
| Type of fieldwork | Self-emumeration and direct enumeration |
| Microdata sample characteristics | |
| Sample design | Not applicable |
| Sample fraction | 1 |
| Sample size (person records) | 2899281 |
| Sample weights | Not applicable |
| Units identified in microdata | |
| Dwellings | No |
| Vacant units | No |
| Households | Yes |
| Collective dwellings | Yes |
| Smallest geography | Parish |
| Unit definitions | |
| Households | Where houses were let or sub-let to different persons or families, in separate stories or apartments, the single occupier or head of household of each such story or apartment completed a separate household schedule |
| Census/survey characteristics | |
| Type | Census |
| Title | Census of the Population 1851 |
| Statistical agency | Secretary of State |
| Population universe | All persons who slept in a dwelling in the country on the night of March 30, 1851 |
| De jure or de facto | De facto |
| Census/survey day | March 31, 1851 |
| Field work period | March 31, 1851 |
| Questionnaire | A single household form collected information on individual characteristics |
| Type of fieldwork | Self-emumeration and direct enumeration |
| Microdata sample characteristics | |
| Sample design | Highly clustered sample of parishes. For more information, see sample description. |
| Sample fraction | 0.02 |
| Sample size (person records) | 399216 |
| Sample weights | Weights computed by data producer should be used for most types of analysis. |
| Units identified in microdata | |
| Dwellings | No |
| Vacant units | No |
| Households | Yes |
| Collective dwellings | Yes |
| Smallest geography | Parish |
| Unit definitions | |
| Households | Where houses were let or sub-let to different persons or families, in separate stories or apartments, the single occupier or head of household of each such story or apartment completed a separate household schedule |
| Census/survey characteristics | |
| Type | Census |
| Title | Census of England and Wales, 1861 |
| Statistical agency | Secretary of State |
| Population universe | All persons who slept in a dwelling in the country on the night of April 7, 1861 and persons who were working or travelling on the night April 7,1861 but returned home on April 8, 1861 |
| De jure or de facto | De facto |
| Census/survey day | April 8, 1861 |
| Field work period | Household schedules were delivered between April 1 and April 6, 1861 |
| Questionnaire | A single household form collected information on individual characteristics |
| Type of fieldwork | Self-emumeration and direct enumeration |
| Microdata sample characteristics | |
| Sample design | Not applicable |
| Sample fraction | 1 |
| Sample size (person records) | 19828561 |
| Sample weights | Not applicable |
| Units identified in microdata | |
| Dwellings | No |
| Vacant units | No |
| Households | Yes |
| Collective dwellings | Yes |
| Smallest geography | Parish |
| Unit definitions | |
| Households | Where houses were let or sub-let to families or lodgers, each occupier or lodger completed a separate household schedule |
| Census/survey characteristics | |
| Type | Census |
| Title | Census of Scotland, 1861 |
| Statistical agency | Secretary of State |
| Population universe | All persons who slept in a dwelling in the country on the night of April 7, 1861 and persons who were working or travelling on the night April 7,1861 but returned home on April 8, 1861 |
| De jure or de facto | De facto |
| Census/survey day | April 8, 1861 |
| Field work period | Household schedules were delivered between April 1 and April 6, 1861 |
| Questionnaire | A single household form collected information on individual characteristics |
| Type of fieldwork | Self-emumeration and direct enumeration |
| Microdata sample characteristics | |
| Sample design | Not applicable |
| Sample fraction | 1 |
| Sample size (person records) | 3008817 |
| Sample weights | Not applicable |
| Units identified in microdata | |
| Dwellings | No |
| Vacant units | No |
| Households | Yes |
| Collective dwellings | Yes |
| Smallest geography | Parish |
| Unit definitions | |
| Households | Where houses were let or sub-let to families or lodgers, each occupier or lodger completed a separate household schedule |
| Census/survey characteristics | |
| Type | Census |
| Title | Census of Scotland, 1871 |
| Statistical agency | Secretary of State |
| Population universe | All persons who slept in a dwelling in the country on the night of April 2, 1871 and persons who were working or travelling on the night April 2,1871 but returned home on April 3, 1871 |
| De jure or de facto | De facto |
| Census/survey day | April 3, 1871 |
| Field work period | Household schedules were delivered between March 27 and April 1, 1871 |
| Questionnaire | A single household form collected information on individual characteristics |
| Type of fieldwork | Self-emumeration and direct enumeration |
| Microdata sample characteristics | |
| Sample design | Not applicable |
| Sample fraction | 1 |
| Sample size (person records) | 3349656 |
| Sample weights | Not applicable |
| Units identified in microdata | |
| Dwellings | No |
| Vacant units | No |
| Households | Yes |
| Collective dwellings | Yes |
| Smallest geography | Parish |
| Unit definitions | |
| Households | A group of people who eat at the same table or in the same house, including lodgers and servants |
| Census/survey characteristics | |
| Type | Census |
| Title | Census of England and Wales, 1881 |
| Statistical agency | Registrar General |
| Population universe | All persons who slept in a dwelling in the country on the night of April 3, 1881 and persons who were working or travelling on the night April 3,1881 but returned home on April 4, 1881 |
| De jure or de facto | De facto |
| Census/survey day | April 4, 1881 |
| Field work period | Household schedules were delivered between March 28 and April 2, 1881 |
| Questionnaire | A single household form collected information on individual characteristics |
| Type of fieldwork | Self-emumeration and direct enumeration |
| Microdata sample characteristics | |
| Sample design | Not applicable |
| Sample fraction | 1 |
| Sample size (person records) | 26124585 |
| Sample weights | Not applicable |
| Units identified in microdata | |
| Dwellings | No |
| Vacant units | No |
| Households | Yes |
| Collective dwellings | Yes |
| Smallest geography | Parish |
| Unit definitions | |
| Households | A group of people who eat at the same table or in the same house, including lodgers and servants |
| Census/survey characteristics | |
| Type | Census |
| Title | Census of Scotland, 1881 |
| Statistical agency | Registrar General |
| Population universe | All persons who slept in a dwelling in the country on the night of April 3, 1881 and persons who were working or travelling on the night April 3,1881 but returned home on April 4, 1881 |
| De jure or de facto | De facto |
| Census/survey day | April 4, 1881 |
| Field work period | Household schedules were delivered between March 28 and April 2, 1881 |
| Questionnaire | A single household form collected information on individual characteristics |
| Type of fieldwork | Self-emumeration and direct enumeration |
| Microdata sample characteristics | |
| Sample design | Not applicable |
| Sample fraction | 1 |
| Sample size (person records) | 3741017 |
| Sample weights | Not applicable |
| Units identified in microdata | |
| Dwellings | No |
| Vacant units | No |
| Households | Yes |
| Collective dwellings | Yes |
| Smallest geography | Parish |
| Unit definitions | |
| Households | A group of people who eat at the same table or in the same house, including lodgers and servants |
| Census/survey characteristics | |
| Type | Census |
| Title | Census of England and Wales, 1891 |
| Statistical agency | Registrar General |
| Population universe | All persons who slept in a dwelling in the country on the night of April 5, 1891 and persons who were working or travelling on the night April 5,1891 but returned home on April 6, 1891 |
| De jure or de facto | De facto |
| Census/survey day | April 6, 1891 |
| Field work period | Household schedules were delivered between March 29 and April 4, 1891 |
| Questionnaire | A single household form collected information on individual characteristics |
| Type of fieldwork | Self-emumeration and direct enumeration |
| Microdata sample characteristics | |
| Sample design | Not applicable |
| Sample fraction | 1 |
| Sample size (person records) | 29509255 |
| Sample weights | Not applicable |
| Units identified in microdata | |
| Dwellings | No |
| Vacant units | No |
| Households | Yes |
| Collective dwellings | Yes |
| Smallest geography | Parish |
| Unit definitions | |
| Households | A group of people who eat at the same table or in the same house, including lodgers and servants |
| Census/survey characteristics | |
| Type | Census |
| Title | Census of Scotland, 1891 |
| Statistical agency | Registrar General |
| Population universe | All persons who slept in a dwelling in the country on the night of April 5, 1891 and persons who were working or travelling on the night April 5,1891 but returned home on April 6, 1891 |
| De jure or de facto | De facto |
| Census/survey day | April 6, 1891 |
| Field work period | Household schedules were delivered between March 29 and April 4, 1891 |
| Questionnaire | A single household form collected information on individual characteristics |
| Type of fieldwork | Self-emumeration and direct enumeration |
| Microdata sample characteristics | |
| Sample design | Not applicable |
| Sample fraction | 1 |
| Sample size (person records) | 4013567 |
| Sample weights | Not applicable |
| Units identified in microdata | |
| Dwellings | No |
| Vacant units | No |
| Households | Yes |
| Collective dwellings | Yes |
| Smallest geography | Parish |
| Unit definitions | |
| Households | A group of people who eat at the same table or in the same house, including lodgers and servants |
| Census/survey characteristics | |
| Type | Census |
| Title | Census of England and Wales, 1901 |
| Statistical agency | Registrar General |
| Population universe | All persons who slept in a dwelling in the country on the night of March 31, 1901 and persons who were working or travelling on the night March 31, 1901 but returned home on April 1, 1901 |
| De jure or de facto | De facto |
| Census/survey day | April 1, 1901 |
| Field work period | Household schedules were delivered between March 25 and March 30, 1901 |
| Questionnaire | A single household form collected information on individual characteristics |
| Type of fieldwork | Self-emumeration and direct enumeration |
| Microdata sample characteristics | |
| Sample design | Not applicable |
| Sample fraction | 1 |
| Sample size (person records) | 32493318 |
| Sample weights | Not applicable |
| Units identified in microdata | |
| Dwellings | No |
| Vacant units | No |
| Households | Yes |
| Collective dwellings | Yes |
| Smallest geography | Parish |
| Unit definitions | |
| Households | A group of people who eat at the same table or in the same house, including lodgers and servants |
| Census/survey characteristics | |
| Type | Census |
| Title | Census of Scotland, 1901 |
| Statistical agency | Registrar General |
| Population universe | All persons who slept in a dwelling in the country on the night of March 31, 1901 and persons who were working or travelling on the night March 31, 1901 but returned home on April 1, 1901 |
| De jure or de facto | De facto |
| Census/survey day | April 1, 1901 |
| Field work period | Household schedules were delivered between March 25 and March 30, 1901 |
| Questionnaire | A single household form collected information on individual characteristics |
| Type of fieldwork | Self-emumeration and direct enumeration |
| Microdata sample characteristics | |
| Sample design | Not applicable |
| Sample fraction | 1 |
| Sample size (person records) | 4438418 |
| Sample weights | Not applicable |
| Units identified in microdata | |
| Dwellings | No |
| Vacant units | No |
| Households | Yes |
| Collective dwellings | Yes |
| Smallest geography | Parish |
| Unit definitions | |
| Households | A group of people who eat at the same table or in the same house, including lodgers and servants |
| Census/survey characteristics | |
| Type | Census |
| Title | Census of England and Wales, 1911 |
| Statistical agency | Registrar General |
| Population universe | All persons who slept in a dwelling in the country on the night of April 2,1911 and persons who arrived to the dwelling on the morning of April 3, 1911 having not be enumerated elsewhere |
| De jure or de facto | De facto |
| Census/survey day | April 3, 1911 |
| Field work period | Household schedules were delivered between March 27 and April 1, 1911 |
| Questionnaire | A single household form collected information on individual characteristics |
| Type of fieldwork | Self-emumeration and direct enumeration |
| Microdata sample characteristics | |
| Sample design | Not applicable |
| Sample fraction | 1 |
| Sample size (person records) | 36353455 |
| Sample weights | Not applicable |
| Units identified in microdata | |
| Dwellings | No |
| Vacant units | No |
| Households | Yes |
| Collective dwellings | Yes |
| Smallest geography | Parish |
| Unit definitions | |
| Dwellings | A place in which any person entitled to receive a schedule usually lives. A dwelling may be an ordinary private house or a separately occupied room or rooms in a house; a flat in a block of residential mansions or model dwellings; a maisonette; rooms over stables, over shops, in a factory, etc.; an hotel, club, institution, etc.; or a caravan, tent, canal boat, vessel, etc. |
| Households | A group of people who eat at the same table or in the same house, including lodgers and servants |
| Census/survey characteristics | |
| Type | Census |
| Title | 1961 Census |
| Statistical agency | Office of Population and Surveys for England and Wales |
| Population universe | All persons (members of the household, including visitors, employees and boarders) who are present at midnight on the night of Sunday, 23rd April, 1961, in the dwelling, and alI persons who arrive at the dwelling and join the household on Monday, 24th April, 1961, before the collection of the schedule, and who have not been enumerated elsewhere. |
| De jure or de facto | De jure and de facto |
| Census/survey day | April 23, 1961 |
| Questionnaire | Two questionnaires: a long form applied to ten percent of the poulation and a short form to the other ninety percent. Each of them collected information from all persons, private households, and persons absent from the household. |
| Type of fieldwork | Self-enumeration (support of enumerator) |
| Microdata sample characteristics | |
| Sample design | Original data from which the sample was extracted is itself a systematic sample of every 10th household, selected during the data collection process, and that received the long form. The original data was then stratified by household type and sorted geographically. One in ten households was subsequently systematically excluded. Persons living in communal establishments or in households with more than nine residents were excluded. Finally, a 0.95% sample of households was extracted by selecting randomly 1-in-9 households from the remaining long form respondents. Individuals within communal establishments and those in households with more than nine residents were selected separately from data ordered by geography. No weighting was applied.
NOTE: The sample excludes Northern Ireland. It includes England, Scotland and Wales. |
| Sample fraction | 0.01 |
| Sample size (person records) | 495581 |
| Sample weights | Self-weighting (expansion factor = 100) |
| Units identified in microdata | |
| Dwellings | No |
| Vacant units | No |
| Households | Yes |
| Collective dwellings | Yes |
| Smallest geography | Region |
| Unit definitions | |
| Households | A household comprises either one person living alone or a group of people not necessarily related, living at the same address with common housekeeping - that is, sharing at least one meal a day or sharing a living room or sitting room. People staying temporarily with the household are included. |
| Census/survey characteristics | |
| Type | Census |
| Title | 1971 Census |
| Statistical agency | Office of Population and Surveys for England and Wales |
| Population universe | All persons who spent census night of April 25/26 of 1971 in the household or joined the household on April 26th and who have not been included as present elsewhere; this comprises households, non-private establishments, on board a vessel, or elsewhere in the area of enumeration. In particular the enumerated population includes people who usually lived elsewhere, including abroad, but who were temporarily staying in the area on census night. Members of the armed forces and mercantile marine outside Great Britain on census night were excluded. Members of foreign or Commonwealth armed forces were included if present in the country on census night, but foreign and Commonwealth naval vessels, and the people on board them, were not enumerated. |
| De jure or de facto | De jure and de facto |
| Census/survey day | April 26, 1971 |
| Questionnaire | (H) Form for private households, (B) Individual form; separate form for non-private households. |
| Type of fieldwork | Self-enumeration (support of enumerator) |
| Microdata sample characteristics | |
| Sample design | Original data is a 10% sample. The original data was then stratified by household type and sorted geographically. One in ten households was subsequently systematically excluded. Persons living in communal estalishments or in households with more than nine residents were excluded. Finally, a 0.95% sample of households was extracted by selecting randomly 1-in-9 households from the remaining data. Individuals within communal establishments and those in households with more than nine residents were selected separately from data ordered by geography. No weighting was applied.
NOTE: The sample excludes Northern Ireland. It includes England, Scotland and Wales. |
| Sample fraction | 0.01 |
| Sample size (person records) | 465599 |
| Sample weights | Self-weighting (expansion factor = 100) |
| Units identified in microdata | |
| Dwellings | No |
| Vacant units | No |
| Households | Yes |
| Collective dwellings | Yes |
| Smallest geography | Region |
| Unit definitions | |
| Households | A household is either one person living alone, or a group of persons (who may or may not be related) living at the same address with common housekeeping. Persons staying temporarily with the household are included. A boarder having at least one meal a day with the household counts as a member of the household (breakfast counts as a meal for this purpose); but a lodger taking no meals with the main household counts as a separate one-person household, even if he shares kitchen and bathroom. A group of unrelated persons sharing a house or flat would count as one or as several households according to whether they maintained common housekeeping or provided their own meals separately. |
| Census/survey characteristics | |
| Type | Census |
| Title | 1991 Census |
| Statistical agency | Centre for Census and Survey Research |
| Population universe | Every person who spends census night (21-22 April) in the household, including anyone staying temporarily; any other people who are usually members of the household but on the census night are absent on holiday, at school or college, or for any other reason even if they are being included on another census form elsewhere; anyone who arrives here on Monday 22nd April who was in Great Britain on the Sunday and who has not been included as present on another census form; and any newly born baby born before the 22nd April, even if still in hospital. |
| De jure or de facto | De jure and de facto |
| Census/survey day | 1991-04-21 00:00:00 |
| Questionnaire | Form for private households (H), Form for making and individual return (I), and Form for communal establishments, HM Ships or other vessels (L) |
| Type of fieldwork | Self-enumeration |
| Estimated undercount | 2.0% of the population of Great Britain missed entirely and a further 1.6 per cent for whom records were imputed. |
| Microdata sample characteristics | |
| Sample design | All fully-coded household forms were ordered geographically with the lowest level the enumeration area. Households were then grouped into batches of 10 and one household selected at random from each batch. The two per cent Individual sample was then drawn from the remaining households. Individuals in the remaining households were stratified into groups of nine, and two individuals selected from each group at random. Individuals in communal establishments were stratified into groups of five and one individual selected at random from each group.
NOTE: The sample excludes Northern Ireland. It includes England, Scotland and Wales. NOTE2: Many data items are not available for households with 12 or more persons, for confidentiality reasons. These cases are coded "not in universe" in the affected variables. |
| Sample fraction | 0.02 |
| Sample size (person records) | 541894 |
| Sample weights | Weights computed by census agency. |
| Units identified in microdata | |
| Dwellings | No |
| Vacant units | No |
| Households | Yes |
| Collective dwellings | Yes |
| Smallest geography | SARs region |
| Unit definitions | |
| Households | A household comprises either one person living alone or a group of people not necessarily related, living at the same address with common housekeeping - that is, sharing at least one meal a day or sharing a living room or sitting room. People staying temporarily with the household are included. |
| Census/survey characteristics | |
| Type | Census |
| Title | 2001 Census |
| Statistical agency | Centre for Census and Survey Research |
| Population universe | Anyone who is temporarily away from home on the night of 29 April 2001 who usually lives at this address. Any baby born before 30 April 2001, even if sitll in hospital. People with more than one address if they live at this address for the majority of the time. Anyone who is staying with no other usual address. A spouse or partners who works away from home, or is a member of the armed forces, and usually lives at this address. |
| De jure or de facto | De jure |
| Census/survey day | 2001-04-29 00:00:00 |
| Questionnaire | England household form (H1) |
| Type of fieldwork | Self-enumeration |
| Estimated undercount | No official estimates |
| Microdata sample characteristics | |
| Sample design | The sampling scheme for the household SAR (Sample of anonymised records) is a stratified simple random sampling, where the strata are EDs (Enumeration districts). Unlike 1991, there is no stratification within EDs. Random sampling is applied within each ED. The sampling scheme for the individual SAR follows the 1991 approach of drawing from the population excluding the household sample. Stratification is again by ED. The Individual SAR sampled both private and communal persons, unlike the household SAR which only sampled only households. |
| Sample fraction | 0.03 |
| Sample size (person records) | 1843525 |
| Sample weights | Weights computed by census agency. |
| Units identified in microdata | |
| Dwellings | No |
| Vacant units | No |
| Households | No |
| Collective dwellings | Yes |
| Smallest geography | SARs region |
| Unit definitions | |
| Households | A household comprises either one person living alone or a group of people not necessarily related, living at the same address with common housekeeping - that is, sharing at least one meal a day or sharing a living room or sitting room. |