2011 Topics descriptions


Accommodation type

The type of accommodation used or available for use by an individual household. Examples include the whole of a terraced house, or a flat in a purpose-built block of flats.

 

Accommodation, adaptation of

A household accommodation that has been adapted or designed for one or more of the following: wheelchair, visual, hearing, other physical or mobility difficulties. This only refers to households; communal establishments were not asked this question.

 

Activity the week before the census

An indicator of a person's status or availability for employment - whether employed, unemployed, or their status (if not employed and not seeking employment).

 

Adult lifestage (alternative adult definition)

Adults aged between 16 and 54 are classified by age, by the presence of dependent children in the household, and (in some instances) by the age of the youngest dependent child.
Adults aged 55 and over are classified by age, whether they are in one or two-person households, and (in some instances) by the presence of dependent children.

Adult lifestage uses the alternative definition of an adult (anyone aged 16 and over). This definition is different from the standard definition for adults, children and dependent children used in most census results.

 

Adults in household, number of

This derived variable provides a count of the number of employed adults in a household. An adult in a household is defined as any person who is not a dependent child. This definition is used in most results from the 2011 Census. In results where a different definition is used, it is clearly indicated.

 

Age

Age is derived from the date of birth question and is a person's age at their last birthday, at 27 March 2011. Dates of birth that imply an age over 115 are treated as invalid and the person's age is imputed. Infants less than one year old are classified as 0 years of age.

 

Armed Forces

Members of Armed Forces in England and Wales and related topics.

 

Armed Forces, household reference and associated persons

An 'associated person' is someone who is not a member of the armed forces, but is a spouse, same-sex civil partner, partner, child, or stepchild of a member of the armed forces.

 

Arrival in the UK, age upon

The age of arrival in the UK is derived from the date that a person last arrived to live in the UK and their age. Short visits away from the UK are not counted in determining the date that a person last arrived.
Age of arrival is only applicable to usual residents who were not born in the UK. It does not include usual residents born in the UK who have emigrated and since returned; these are recorded in the category 'born in the UK'.

 

Arrival in the UK, year of

The year of arrival in the UK is derived from the date that a person last arrived to live in the UK. Short visits away from the UK are not counted in determining the date that a person last arrived. Year of arrival is only applicable to usual residents who were not born in the UK. It does not include usual residents born in the UK who have emigrated and since returned; these are recorded in the category 'born in the UK'.

 

Bedrooms, number of

The number of bedrooms in a household's accommodation. A bedroom is defined as any room that was intended to be used as a bedroom when the property was built, or any room that has been permanently converted for use as a bedroom. It also includes all rooms intended for use as a bedroom even if not being used as a bedroom at the time of the census. Bedsits and studio flats are counted as having one bedroom. The number of bedrooms is not available for household spaces with no usual residents.

 

Bedrooms, number of persons per bedroom

The number of persons per bedroom is equal to the number of usual residents in a household divided by the number of bedrooms in that household's accommodation. A bedroom is defined as any room that was intended to be used as a bedroom when the property was built, or any room that has been permanently converted for use as a bedroom. It also includes all rooms intended for use as a bedroom even if not being used as a bedroom at the time of the census.

 

Bedrooms, occupancy rating

Occupancy rating provides a measure of whether a household's accommodation is overcrowded or underoccupied. There are two measures of occupancy rating: One based on the number of rooms in a household's accommodation, and one based on the number of bedrooms.
The ages of the household members and their relationships to each other are used to derive the number of rooms/bedrooms they require, based on a standard formula. The number of rooms/bedrooms required is subtracted from the number of rooms/bedrooms in the household's accommodation to obtain the occupancy rating. An occupancy rating of -1 implies that a household has one fewer room/bedroom than required, whereas +1 implies that they have one more room/bedroom than the standard requirement.

 

Car or van availability

The number of cars or vans that are owned, or available for use, by one or more members of a household. This includes company cars and vans that are available for private use. It does not include motorbikes or scooters, or any cars or vans belonging to visitors.
The count of cars or vans in an area relates only to households. Cars or vans used by residents of communal establishments were not counted.
Households with 10 to 20 cars or vans were counted as having only 1.
Responses indicating a number of cars or vans greater than 20 were treated as invalid and a value was imputed.

 

Car or van, usual residents with access to

'Public transport' and 'car or van availability' are a different statistic to those found in the 2001 Census.

 

Care (unpaid), provision of

A person is a provider of unpaid care if they look after or give help or support to family members, friends, neighbours or others because of long-term physical or mental ill-health or disability, or problems related to old age. This does not include any activities as part of paid employment. No distinction is made about whether any care that a person provides is within their own household or outside the household, so no explicit link can be made about whether the care provided is for a person within the household who has poor general health or a long-term health problem or disability.

 

Carers (unpaid)

A person is a provider of unpaid care if they look after or give help or support to family members, friends, or neighbours because of long-term physical or mental ill health or disability, or problems related to old age. This does not include any activities as part of paid employment.

 

Central heating in household, type of

A household's accommodation is classified as having central heating if it is present in some or all rooms (whether used or not). Central heating is classified by type, as shown in the classification table. Other central heating includes solar, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or other bottled gas. This information is not available for household spaces with no usual residents.

 

Children, age of

There is no age limit applied to the definition of a child. For example, a married couple living with their son 40-year-old would be classified as a family consisting of a married couple and their child unless the son has a spouse, same-sex civil partner, partner or child living in the same household.

 

Children in family

There is no age limit applied to the definition of a child. For example, a married couple living with their son 40-year-old would be classified as a family consisting of a married couple and their child unless the son has a spouse, same-sex civil partner, partner or child living in the same household.

 

Communal establishment management and type

A communal establishment is an establishment providing managed residential accommodation. 'Managed' in this context, means full-time or part-time supervision of the accommodation. Types of communal establishment include:

  • Sheltered accommodation units where fewer than 50 per cent of the units in the establishment have their own cooking facilities, or similar accommodation where residents have their own rooms, but a main meal is provided. If half or more possess their own facilities for cooking (regardless of use) all units in the whole establishment are treated as separate households.
  • Small hotels, guest houses, B&Bs, inns, and pubs with residential accommodation with room for 10 or more guests (excluding the owner/manager and his/her family).
  • All accommodation provided solely for students (during term-time). This includes university-owned cluster flats, houses, and apartments located within student villages. It also includes similar accommodation that is owned by a private company and provided solely for students (University-owned student houses that were difficult to identify and not clearly located with other student residences are treated as households, and houses rented to students by private landlords are also treated as households). Accommodation available only to students may include a small number of caretaking or maintenance staff, or academic staff.
  • Accommodation available only to nurses. This includes cluster flats and similar accommodation, provided solely for nurses. Nurses' accommodation on a hospital site that does not also contain patients is treated as a separate communal establishment from the hospital (and not categorised as a hospital), so that nurses are treated as 'residents' and not 'resident staff' or 'patients'. This ensures consistency with similar nurses' accommodation not on a hospital site.
    National Health Service (NHS) is used in England, Wales and Scotland. Health and Social Care Trust (HSCT) is used in Northern Ireland. In the 2001 Census, HSCT was referred to as NHS/HSSB.

 

Communal establishment management and type in Northern Ireland

A communal establishment is an establishment providing managed residential accommodation. 'Managed' in this context, means full-time or part-time supervision of the accommodation. Types of communal establishment include:

  • Sheltered accommodation units where fewer than 50 per cent of the units in the establishment have their own cooking facilities, or similar accommodation where residents have their own rooms, but a main meal is provided. If half or more possess their own facilities for cooking (regardless of use) all units in the whole establishment are treated as separate households.
  • Small hotels, guest houses, B&Bs, inns, and pubs with residential accommodation with room for 10 or more guests (excluding the owner/manager and his/her family).
  • All accommodation provided solely for students (during term-time). This includes university-owned cluster flats, houses, and apartments located within student villages. It also includes similar accommodation that is owned by a private company and provided solely for students (University-owned student houses that were difficult to identify and not clearly located with other student residences are treated as households, and houses rented to students by private landlords are also treated as households). Accommodation available only to students may include a small number of caretaking or maintenance staff, or academic staff.
  • Accommodation available only to nurses. This includes cluster flats and similar accommodation, provided solely for nurses. Nurses' accommodation on a hospital site that does not also contain patients is treated as a separate communal establishment from the hospital (and not categorised as a hospital), so that nurses are treated as 'residents' and not 'resident staff' or 'patients'. This ensures consistency with similar nurses' accommodation not on a hospital site.

 

Communal establishments in Scotland

A communal establishment is an establishment providing managed residential accommodation.  Managed , in this context, means full-time or part-time supervision of the accommodation.
Types of communal establishment include:

  • Sheltered accommodation units where fewer than 50 per cent of the units in the establishment have their own cooking facilities, or similar accommodation where residents have their own rooms, but the main meal is provided. If half or more possess their own facilities for cooking (regardless of use) all units in the whole establishment are treated as separate households.
  • Small hotels, guest houses, bed & breakfasts, inns and pubs with residential accommodation with room for 10 or more guests (excluding the owner/manager and his/her family).
  • All accommodation provided solely for students (during term-time). This includes university-owned cluster flats, houses and apartments located within student villages, and similar accommodation owned by a private company and provided solely for students. (University-owned student houses that were difficult to identify and not clearly located with other student residences are treated as households, and houses rented to students by private landlords are also treated as households.) Accommodation available only to students may include a small number of care-taking, maintenance, or academic staff.
  • Accommodation available only to nurses. This includes cluster flats and similar accommodation, provided solely for nurses. Nurses accommodation on a hospital site that does not also contain patients is treated as a separate communal establishment from the hospital (and not categorised as a hospital), so that nurses are treated as  residents and not  resident staff or  patients . This ensures consistency with similar nurses accommodation not on a hospital site.

 

Communal establishment residents

A communal establishment resident is a person whose usual place of residence is in managed residential accommodation. This means any person who was living or expected to live in a communal establishment for six months or more. Individuals residing in a communal establishment for less than six months are included as resident at their home address.
A person normally resident at the establishment who was absent on census day is still classified as a resident of the establishment, and also counted as a visitor to the address they were staying on census day.
Any person usually resident in the UK who was visiting the establishment on census day and did not have a usual address elsewhere is also classified as a resident of the communal establishment (regardless of how long they stayed or intended to stay there).
Any person from outside the UK who intended to stay in the UK for three months or more in total, and who did not have another address at which they usually lived in the UK, is also classified as a resident of the establishment. If they intended to stay in the UK for less than three months in total they are counted as a visitor to the establishment.

'Residents' excludes staff and families of staff.

'HSCT' (Health and Social Care Trust) was referred to as NHS/HSSB in the 2001 Census.

 

Communal establishment, position in

A usual resident of a communal establishment is either a resident of the establishment, a member of staff who is resident in the establishment, or a family member of staff that is a resident in the establishment.

 

Concealed family

A concealed family is one living in a multi-family household in addition to the primary family, such as a young couple living with parents. Each family is assigned a Family Reference Person (FRP).

An example of this is shown below:

George and Amy live at the same address as their daughter, Emily, and Emily's husband and daughter. Because Emily is not a dependent child and has her own family, there are two families in this household.
Family one is George and wife Amy. George is the Family Reference Person (FRP).
Family two is daughter Emily, husband Simon and their daughter. Emily is the FRP.
As there is more than one family in the household, the FRPs are prioritised to decide who the HRP is. In this household, George is the HRP.
This means that Emily's family is a 'concealed family', their HRP is George, and they will be included as part of his household in relevant outputs.

 

Country of birth

Country of birth is the country in which a person was born. This topic records whether the person was born in or if they were not born in a country.
For the full country of birth classification in England and Wales, please see the National Statistics Country Classification.

 

Country of birth (condensed for England and Wales)

Country of birth is the country in which a person was born. This topic records whether the person was born in or if they were not born in a country.
For the full country of birth classification in England and Wales, please see the National Statistics Country Classification.

 

Country of birth (condensed for Northern Ireland)

Country of birth is the country in which a person was born. The country of birth question included six tick box responses - one for each of the four parts of the UK, one for the Republic of Ireland, and one for 'Elsewhere'. Where a person ticked 'Elsewhere', they were asked to write in the current name of the country in which they were born. Responses are assigned codes based on the National Statistics Country Classification.
The grouping of countries within the classification is broadly regional, but takes into account the grouping of European Union (EU) countries. Countries in the EU are grouped into those that were EU members prior to 2004 expansion, and those that became members (Accession countries) since 2004 as part of the EU enlargement process.

'Other EU countries' and 'Other' encompass a large number of countries and cannot be described by the other Country of Birth Codelists.

Applicable to Northern Ireland only.

 

Country of birth (UK harmonised)

Country of birth is the country in which a person was born. This topic records whether the person was born in or if they were not born in a country.
For the full country of birth classification in England and Wales, please see the National Statistics Country Classification.

 

Country of birth (alternative classification)

Country of birth is the country in which a person was born. This topic records whether the person was born in or if they were not born in a country.
For the full country of birth classification in England and Wales, please see the National Statistics Country Classification.

 

Country of birth of household reference person in Northern Ireland

Country of birth is the country in which a person was born. The country of birth question included six tick box responses - one for each of the four parts of the UK, one for the Republic of Ireland, and one for 'Elsewhere'. Where a person ticked 'Elsewhere', they were asked to write in the current name of the country in which they were born. Responses are assigned codes based on the National Statistics Country Classification.
The grouping of countries within the classification is broadly regional, but takes into account the grouping of European Union (EU) countries. Countries in the EU are grouped into those that were EU members prior to 2004 expansion, and those that became members (Accession countries) since 2004 as part of the EU enlargement process.

The concept of a Household Reference Person (HRP) was introduced in the 2001 Census (in common with other government surveys in 2001/2) to replace the traditional concept of the 'head of the household'. HRPs provide an individual person within a household to act as a reference point for producing further derived statistics and for characterising a whole household according to characteristics of the chosen reference person.
For a person living alone, it follows that this person is the HRP.
If a household contains only one family (with or without ungrouped individuals) then the HRP is the same as the Family Reference Person (FRP).
For families in which there is generational divide between family members that cannot be determined (Other related family), there is no FRP. Members of these families are treated the same as ungrouped individuals.
If there is more than one family in a household the HRP is chosen from among the FRPs using the same criteria used to choose the FRP. This means the HRP will be selected from the FRPs on the basis of their economic activity, in the priority order:

  • Economically active, employed, full-time, non-student
  • Economically active, employed, full-time, student
  • Economically active, employed, part-time, non-student
  • Economically active, employed, part-time, student
  • Economically active, unemployed, non-student
  • Economically active, unemployed, student
  • Economically inactive, retired
  • Economically inactive, other
If some or all FRPs have the same economic activity, the HRP is the eldest of the FRPs. If some or all are the same age, the HRP is the first of the FRPs from the order in which they were listed on the questionnaire.
If a household is made up entirely of any combination of ungrouped individuals and other related families, the HRP is chosen from among all people in the household, using the same criteria used to choose between FRPs. Students at their non term-time address and short-term migrants cannot be the HRP.

 

Dependent children

A dependent child is any person aged 0 to 15 in a household (whether or not in a family) or a person aged 16 to 18 in full-time education and living in a family with his or her parent(s) or grandparent(s). It does not include any people aged 16 to 18 who have a spouse, partner or child living in the household.

 

Dependent children, age of

A dependent child is any person aged 0 to 15 in a household (whether or not in a family) or a person aged 16 to 18 who's in full-time education and living in a family with his or her parent(s) or grandparent(s). It does not include any people aged 16 to 18 who have a spouse, partner or child living in the household.

 

Dependent child, age of youngest

Age is derived from the date of birth question and is a person's age at their last birthday, at 27 March 2011. Dates of birth that imply an age over 115 are treated as invalid and the person's age is imputed. Infants less than one year old are classified as 0 years of age.
A dependent child is any person aged 0 to 15 in a household (whether or not in a family) or a person aged 16 to 18 in full-time education and living in a family with his or her parent(s) or grandparent(s). It does not include any people aged 16 to 18 who have a spouse, partner or child living in the household.

 

Dependent children in family

A dependent child is any person aged 0 to 15 in a household (whether or not in a family) or a person aged 16 to 18 who's in full-time education and living in a family with his or her parent(s) or grandparent(s). It does not include any people aged 16 to 18 who have a spouse, partner or child living in the household.
A family is defined as a group of people who are: a married, same-sex civil partnership, or cohabiting couple, with or without child(ren); a lone parent with child(ren); a married, same-sex civil partnership, or cohabiting couple with grandchild(ren) but with no children present from the intervening generation; or a single grandparent with grandchild(ren) but no children present from the intervening generation. Children in couple families need not belong to both members of the couple. For single or couple grandparents with grandchildren present, the children of the grandparent(s) may also be present if they are not the parents or grandparents of the youngest generation present.

 

Dependent children in family (condensed for England and Wales)

A dependent child is any person aged 0 to 15 in a household (whether or not in a family) or a person aged 16 to 18 who's in full-time education and living in a family with his or her parent(s) or grandparent(s). It does not include any people aged 16 to 18 who have a spouse, partner or child living in the household.
A family is defined as a group of people who are: a married, same-sex civil partnership, or cohabiting couple, with or without child(ren); a lone parent with child(ren); a married, same-sex civil partnership, or cohabiting couple with grandchild(ren) but with no children present from the intervening generation; or a single grandparent with grandchild(ren) but no children present from the intervening generation. Children in couple families need not belong to both members of the couple. For single or couple grandparents with grandchildren present, the children of the grandparent(s) may also be present if they are not the parents or grandparents of the youngest generation present.

 

Dependent children in household

A count of the dependent children living in a household. A dependent child is a person aged 0 to 15 in a household (whether or not in a family) or aged 16 to 18, in full-time education, and living in a family with his or her parent(s) or grandparent(s).
It does not include any children who have a spouse, partner or child living in the household.

 

Deprivation, classification of household

The dimensions of deprivation used to classify households are indicators based on four selected household characteristics. A household is deprived in a dimension if they meet one or more of the following conditions:

  • Employment: Where any member of a household, who is not a full-time student, is either unemployed or long-term sick.
  • Education: No person in the household has at least Level 2 education (see highest level of qualification), and no person aged 16 to 18 is a full-time student.
  • Health and disability: Any person in the household has general health that is 'bad' or 'very bad' or has a long-term health problem.
  • Housing: The household's accommodation is either overcrowded, with an occupancy rating -1 or less, or is in a shared dwelling, or has no central heating.

A household is classified as being deprived in none, or one to four of these dimensions in any combination.

 

Dwellings

A household's accommodation (a household space) is defined as being in a shared dwelling if it has accommodation type 'part of a converted or shared house', not all the rooms (including bathroom and toilet, if any) are behind a door that only that household can use and there is at least one other such household space at the same address with which it can be combined to form the shared dwelling. If any of these conditions is not met, the household space forms an unshared dwelling. Therefore a dwelling can consist of one household space (an unshared dwelling) or two or more household spaces (a shared dwelling).

 

Economic activity

Economic activity relates to whether or not a person who was aged 16 and over was working or looking for work in the week before census. Rather than a simple indicator of whether or not someone was currently in employment, it provides a measure of whether or not a person was an active participant in the labour market.
A person's economic activity is derived from their 'activity last week'. This is an indicator of their status or availability for employment - whether employed, unemployed, or their status if not employed and not seeking employment. Additional information included in the economic activity classification is also derived from information about the number of hours a person works and their type of employment - whether employed or self-employed.
The census concept of economic activity is compatible with the standard for economic status defined by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). It is one of a number of definitions used internationally to produce accurate and comparable statistics on employment

 

Economic activity of household reference persons

Economic activity relates to whether or not a person who was aged 16 and over was working or looking for work in the week before census. Rather than a simple indicator of whether or not someone was currently in employment, it provides a measure of whether or not a person was an active participant in the labour market.
A person's economic activity is derived from their 'activity last week'. This is an indicator of their status or availability for employment - whether employed, unemployed, or their status if not employed and not seeking employment. Additional information included in the economic activity classification is also derived from information about the number of hours a person works and their type of employment - whether employed or self-employed.
The census concept of economic activity is compatible with the standard for economic status defined by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). It is one of a number of definitions used internationally to produce accurate and comparable statistics on employment

 

Economic status

An indicator of a person's status or availability for employment - whether employed, unemployed, or their status (if not employed and not seeking employment).

 

Ethnic group

Ethnic group classifies people according to their own perceived ethnic group and cultural background.

 

Ethnic group (detailed)

Ethnic group classifies people according to their own perceived ethnic group and cultural background.

  Northern Ireland
This table reports the categories for which there are 10 or more usual residents. Where there are fewer than 10 usual residents for any category, these have been reported in a residual group which may or may not contain 10 or more usual residents in total.

 

Ethnic group (write-in responses)

Ethnic group classifies people according to their own perceived ethnic group and cultural background.
This topic contains ethnic group write-in responses without reference to the five broad ethnic group categories, e.g. all Irish people, irrespective of whether they are White, Mixed/multiple ethnic groups, Asian/Asian British, Black/African/Caribbean/Black British or Other ethnic group, are in the 'Irish' response category. This topic was created as part of the commissioned table processing.

 

Ethnic group (UK harmonised)

Ethnic group classifies people according to their own perceived ethnic group and cultural background.
Due to question and response category differences in the country-specific ethnic group question asked in the 2011 Censuses of the UK, some responses are not directly comparable. The UK output on ethnic group is therefore presented using a high-level classification as recommended by the ONS 'Primary Standards for Harmonised Concepts and Questions for Social Data sources'.
The correspondence between the country specific ethnic group categories onto the UK classification is shown in the table below:

UK Output Classification
(KS201UK)		 England and Wales Classification
(KS201EW)		 Scotland Classification
(KS201SC)		 Northern Ireland Classification
(KS201NI)
White White: English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish/British
White: Irish
White: Other White		 White: Scottish
White: Other British
White: Irish
White: Polish
White: Other White		 White
Gypsy/Traveller/Irish Traveller White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller White: Gypsy/Traveller Irish Traveller
Mixed/Multiple Ethnic Groups Mixed/multiple ethnic group: White and Black
Caribbean Mixed/multiple ethnic group: White and Black African
Mixed/multiple ethnic group: White and Asian
Mixed/multiple ethnic group: Other Mixed		 Mixed or multiple ethnic groups Mixed
Asian/Asian British: Indian Asian/Asian British: Indian Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Indian, Indian Scottish or Indian British Indian
Asian/Asian British: Pakistani Asian/Asian British: Pakistani Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Pakistani, Pakistani Scottish or Pakistani British Pakistani
Asian/Asian British: Bangladeshi Asian/Asian British: Bangladeshi Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Bangladeshi, Bangladeshi Scottish or Bangladeshi British Bangladeshi
Asian/Asian British: Chinese Asian/Asian British: Chinese Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Chinese, Chinese Scottish or Chinese British Chinese
Asian/Asian British: Other Asian Asian/Asian British: Other Asian Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Other Asian Other Asian
Black/African/Caribbean/Black British Black/African/Caribbean/Black British: African
Black/African/Caribbean/Black British: Caribbean
Black/African/Caribbean/Black British: Other Black		 African: African, African Scottish or African British
African: Other African
Caribbean or Black: Caribbean, Caribbean Scottish or Caribbean British
Caribbean or Black: Black, Black Scottish or Black British
Caribbean or Black: Other Caribbean or Black		 Black African
Black Caribbean
Black Other
Other ethnic group Other ethnic group: Arab
Other ethnic group: Any other ethnic group		 Other ethnic groups: Arab, Arab Scottish or Arab British
Other ethnic groups: Other ethnic group		 Other

 

Ethnic groups, multiple

Multiple ethnic groups classifies households by the diversity in ethnic group of household members in different relationships - for example, different ethnic groups between generations or within partnerships.

  Northern Ireland

  1. 'Same ethnic group' means within the same ethnic group as defined by the 12-way ethnic classification (White, Chinese, Irish Traveller, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Other Asian, Black Caribbean, Black African, Black Other, Mixed, Other).
  2. 'Different ethnic groups within partnerships' includes all households where there are different ethnic groups within partnerships whether or not there are also different ethnic groups between generations.

 

Ethnic group of household reference person

Ethnic group classifies people according to their own perceived ethnic group and cultural background.
The concept of a Household Reference Person (HRP) was introduced in the 2001 Census (in common with other government surveys in 2001/2) to replace the traditional concept of the 'head of the household'. HRPs provide an individual person within a household to act as a reference point for producing further derived statistics and for characterising a whole household according to characteristics of the chosen reference person.

 

Ethnic group in Northern Ireland

Used in all NI Ethnic group tables. Northern Ireland uses its own condensed version of the Ethnic group Codelist. Applicable to Northern Ireland only.

 

Ethnic group of household reference person in Northern Ireland

Ethnic group classifies people according to their own perceived ethnic group and cultural background.

The concept of a Household Reference Person (HRP) was introduced in the 2001 Census (in common with other government surveys in 2001/2) to replace the traditional concept of the 'head of the household'. HRPs provide an individual person within a household to act as a reference point for producing further derived statistics and for characterising a whole household according to characteristics of the chosen reference person.
For a person living alone, it follows that this person is the HRP.
If a household contains only one family (with or without ungrouped individuals) then the HRP is the same as the Family Reference Person (FRP).
For families in which there is generational divide between family members that cannot be determined (Other related family), there is no FRP. Members of these families are treated the same as ungrouped individuals.
If there is more than one family in a household the HRP is chosen from among the FRPs using the same criteria used to choose the FRP. This means the HRP will be selected from the FRPs on the basis of their economic activity, in the priority order:

  • Economically active, employed, full-time, non-student
  • Economically active, employed, full-time, student
  • Economically active, employed, part-time, non-student
  • Economically active, employed, part-time, student
  • Economically active, unemployed, non-student
  • Economically active, unemployed, student
  • Economically inactive, retired
  • Economically inactive, other
If some or all FRPs have the same economic activity, the HRP is the eldest of the FRPs. If some or all are the same age, the HRP is the first of the FRPs from the order in which they were listed on the questionnaire.
If a household is made up entirely of any combination of ungrouped individuals and other related families, the HRP is chosen from among all people in the household, using the same criteria used to choose between FRPs. Students at their non term-time address and short-term migrants cannot be the HRP.

 

Ethnic group in Scotland

The Ethnicity question has 6 broad categories from which the user would select one and then pick a specific ethnicity within that category, or fill in the text box underneath whilst ticking the 'other' box.
Responses are assigned codes based on the ethnicity classification codes.

 

Ethnic group in Scotland (alternative classification)

Ethnic group classifies people according to their own perceived ethnic group and cultural background.

 

Ethnic group of household reference person in Scotland

Ethnic group classifies people according to their own perceived ethnic group and cultural background.
The concept of a Household Reference Person (HRP) was introduced in the 2001 Census (in common with other government surveys in 2001/2) to replace the traditional concept of the 'head of the household'. HRPs provide an individual person within a household to act as a reference point for producing further derived statistics and for characterising a whole household according to characteristics of the chosen reference person.

 

Family reference person, age of

Age is derived from the date of birth question and a person's age at their last birthday. Dates of birth that imply an age over 115 are treated as invalid and the person's age is imputed. Infants less than one year old are classified as 0 years of age.

The Family Reference Person (FRP) is identified by criteria based on the family make up.
In a lone-parent family, the FRP is taken to be the lone parent in a lone parent family. Otherwise:

  • In a couple family, the FRP is chosen from the two people in the couple on the basis of their economic activity (in the priority order; full-time job, part-time job, unemployed, retired, other).
  • If both people have the same economic activity, the FRP is identified as the elder of the two or, if they are the same age, the first member of the couple on the form.

 

Family status

A family is defined as a group of people who are:

  • A married, same-sex civil partnership, or cohabiting couple, with or without child(ren),
  • A lone parent with child(ren),
  • A married, same-sex civil partnership, or cohabiting couple with grandchild(ren) but with no children present from the intervening generation,
  • Or a single grandparent with grandchild(ren) but no children present from the intervening generation.

Children in couple families need not belong to both members of the couple.
For single or couple grandparents with grandchildren present, the children of the grandparent(s) may also be present if they are not the parents or grandparents of the youngest generation present.

 

General health

General health is a self-assessment of a person's general state of health. People were asked to assess whether their health was very good, good, fair, bad or very bad. For England and Wales, this assessment is not based on a person's health over any specified period of time.

  Northern Ireland
'General health' refers to a person's health over the 12 months prior to Census day (27 March 2011).

 

Hours worked

The number of hours that a person aged 16 and over, in employment in the week before the census, worked in their main job. This includes paid and unpaid overtime.
Full-time working is defined as working 31 hours or more per week, and Part-time working is defined as working 30 hours or less per week.

 

Household composition

Household composition classifies households according to the relationships between the household members. Households consisting of one family and no other usual residents are classified according to the type of family (married, same-sex civil partnership or cohabiting couple family, or lone parent family) and the number of dependent children. Other households are classified by the number of people, the number of dependent children, or whether the household consists only of students or only of people aged 65 and over.

  Northern Ireland

  1. A dependent child is a person in a household aged 0 to 15 (whether or not in a family) or a person aged 16 to 18 who is a full-time student in a family with parent(s).
  2. A family consists of a couple (married, same-sex civil partnership or cohabiting) with or without children, or a lone parent and their children. It also includes a married, same-sex civil partnership or cohabiting couple with their grandchildren or a lone grandparent with his or her grandchildren, if there is no parent in the intervening generation in the household. A family will also include step-children when their parent is part of the couple.

 

Household composition (alternative classification)

This derived variable describes households in an alternative way to the classification used in most of the standard tables (see Household composition).
It defines households by the age of the people in them. It does not take into account the relationships between people in households. For the purposes of this classification, an 'adult' is defined as any person aged 16 or over and a 'child' is defined as any person aged under 16.

 

Household composition and ability to speak Welsh

Household composition classifies households according to the relationships between the household members.
Households consisting of one family and no other usual residents are classified according to the type of family (married, same-sex civil partnership or cohabiting couple family, or lone parent family) and the number of dependent children. Other households are classified by the number of people, the number of dependent children, or whether the household consists only of students or only of people aged 65 and over.
This definition is used in most results from the 2011 Census. In a small number of results an alternative classification is used that defines households by the age of the household members. It takes no account of the relationships between them. In results where this different definition is used it is clearly indicated.
It also contains information on the number of persons in the household who can speak welsh.

Applicable to Wales only.

 

Household composition and ability to speak Welsh (detailed)

Extended Welsh household compositionHousehold composition classifies households according to the relationships between the household members.
Households consisting of one family and no other usual residents are classified according to the type of family (married, same-sex civil partnership or cohabiting couple family, or lone parent family) and the number of dependent children. Other households are classified by the number of people, the number of dependent children, or whether the household consists only of students or only of people aged 65 and over.
This definition is used in most results from the 2011 Census. In a small number of results an alternative classification is used that defines households by the age of the household members. It takes no account of the relationships between them. In results where this different definition is used it is clearly indicated.
It also contains information on the number of persons in the household who can speak welsh and their sex.
Applicable to Wales only

 

Household lifestage

Household lifestage classifies households according to:

  1. The age of the Household Reference Person (HRP), whether they are in a one or two person household, and
  2. The presence of dependent children in the household, for households with two or more persons.

 

Household reference person

The concept of a Household Reference Person (HRP) was introduced in the 2001 Census (in common with other government surveys in 2001/2) to replace the traditional concept of the 'head of the household'. HRPs provide an individual person within a household to act as a reference point for producing further derived statistics and for characterising a whole household according to characteristics of the chosen reference person.
For a person living alone, it follows that this person is the HRP.
If a household contains only one family (with or without ungrouped individuals) then the HRP is the same as the Family Reference Person (FRP).
For families in which there is generational divide between family members that cannot be determined (Other related family), there is no FRP. Members of these families are treated the same as ungrouped individuals.
If there is more than one family in a household the HRP is chosen from among the FRPs using the same criteria used to choose the FRP. This means the HRP will be selected from the FRPs on the basis of their economic activity, in the priority order:Economically active, employed, full-time, non-studentEconomically active, employed, full-time, studentEconomically active, employed, part-time, non-studentEconomically active, employed, part-time, studentEconomically active, unemployed, non-studentEconomically active, unemployed, studentEconomically inactive, retiredEconomically inactive, other
If some or all FRPs have the same economic activity, the HRP is the eldest of the FRPs. If some or all are the same age, the HRP is the first of the FRPs from the order in which they were listed on the questionnaire.
If a household is made up entirely of any combination of ungrouped individuals and other related families, the HRP is chosen from among all people in the household, using the same criteria used to chose between FRPs. Students at their non term-time address and short-term migrants cannot be the HRP.

 

Household reference person, age of

Age is derived from the date of birth question and is a person's age at their last birthday, at 27 March 2011. Dates of birth that imply an age over 115 are treated as invalid and the person's age is imputed. Infants less than one year old are classified as 0 years of age.
The concept of a Household Reference Person (HRP) was introduced in the 2001 Census (in common with other government surveys in 2001/2) to replace the traditional concept of the 'head of the household'. HRPs provide an individual person within a household to act as a reference point for producing further derived statistics and for characterising a whole household according to characteristics of the chosen reference person.

 

Household size

The size of a household is equal to the number of usual residents in the household. Visitors staying at an address do not contribute to that household's size because they are counted in the household of their place of usual residence.

 

Household spaces

A household space is the accommodation used or available for use by an individual household. A household space with no usual residents is not the same as a vacant household space because it may be a second home or holiday accommodation, or may otherwise have had visitors present on census night.

 

Household space type

A household space is the accommodation used or available for use by an individual household. Household spaces are identified separately in census results as those with at least one usual resident and those that do not have any usual residents.
A household space with no usual residents may still be used by short-term residents, visitors who were present on census night, or a combination of short-term residents and visitors.
Vacant household spaces and household spaces that are used as second addresses are also classified in census results as household spaces with no usual residents.

 

Household type

Household type classifies households in an alternative way to the household composition classification that is used in most standard census results.
A household is classified by the type of family present, but households with more than one family are categorised in the priority order: married couple family, same-sex civil partnership couple family, cohabiting couple family lone parent family
Within a family type a family with dependent children takes priority.
This means that in tables that use this classification the alternative definitions of married couple household, same-sex civil partnership couple household, cohabiting couple household and lone parent household are applicable.

 

Industry

The industry in which a person aged 16 and over works relates to their main job, and is derived from information provided on the main activity of their employer or business. This is used to assign responses to an industry code based on the Standard Industrial Classification 2007.

 

Industry, former

The industry in which a person formerly worked is determined by the response to the question asking for a description of the business of the person's previous employer (or own business if self-employed). The responses are coded to a modified version of the UK Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activities 2007 - UK SIC (2007).

 

Language, main language used

The language that is a person's first or preferred language.
This information helps central government, local authorities and the NHS to allocate resources and provide services for non-English speakers, for example English teaching and translation services. It is a better indicator than country of birth, which was previously used to forecast the additional cost of providing services to people whose first language is not English.
The data are also used to assess the impact of English or Welsh language ability on employment and other social inclusion indicators.
Information on the number of British Sign Language users helps with service planning and assists in developing policies to address the needs of the deaf community.
These statistics are used by public service providers to effectively target the delivery of their services, for example in the provision of translation and interpretation services, the availability of English language lessons, and the distribution of official information leaflets in alternative languages.

 

Language, main language used (detailed)

The language that is a person's first or preferred language.
This information helps central government, local authorities and the NHS to allocate resources and provide services for non-English speakers, for example English teaching and translation services. It is a better indicator than country of birth, which was previously used to forecast the additional cost of providing services to people whose first language is not English.
The data are also used to assess the impact of English or Welsh language ability on employment and other social inclusion indicators.
Information on the number of British Sign Language users helps with service planning and assists in developing policies to address the needs of the deaf community.
These statistics are used by public service providers to effectively target the delivery of their services, for example in the provision of translation and interpretation services, the availability of English language lessons, and the distribution of official information leaflets in alternative languages.

 

Language, proficiency in English

Proficiency in English language classifies people whose main language is not English (or not English or Welsh in Wales) according to their ability to speak English. A person is classified in one of the categories: Can speak English very well; Can speak English well; Cannot speak English well; or Cannot speak English.
This question was handled slightly differently in the England and Wales censuses. In the English census, a tickbox was used in Question 18, asking "What is your main language?"

 

Language, English as a household language

This variable describes whether English is used as a main language in a household.

 

Language, skills in Irish

An ability to speak, read or write Irish does not imply an ability to understand Irish unless stated. Persons in these categories may or may not have the ability to understand Irish.

 

Language, knowledge of Irish

An ability to speak, read or write Irish does not imply an ability to understand Irish unless stated. Persons in these categories may or may not have the ability to understand Irish.

 

Language, skills in Ulster-Scots

An ability to speak, read or write Ulster-Scots does not imply an ability to understand Ulster-Scots unless stated. Persons in these categories may or may not have the ability to understand Ulster-Scots.

 

Language, knowledge of Ulster-Scots

An ability to speak, read or write Irish does not imply an ability to understand Irish unless stated. Persons in these categories may or may not have the ability to understand Irish.

 

Language, main language spoken in Northern Ireland

This is a person's first or preferred language. The languages included are those with over 1,000 responses.

 

Language, skills in English and/or Scots

A person aged three and over is classified with skills in English and/or Scots if they can do one or more of the following:

  • Understand spoken English and/or Scots
  • Speak English and/or Scots
  • Read English and/or Scots, or
  • Write English and/or Scots.

Known quality issues: There is evidence that the census data is not accurate for English Language skills. This was identified as there were a considerable number of people who had no skills in English but at the same time were fully proficient in Scots. This was confirmed whilst looking at cross-tabulations of English language skills (ENG2PS11) by results of the next question in the census: Spoken English proficiency (LANGPRF). There were a large number of people who had not ticked the box indicating that they were able to speak English but in the next question had answered that they spoke English very well or well.
The decision was made to combine the tick box responses for English and Scots. Published tables on English language skills are actually English and/or Scots language skills to account for this issue.

 

Language, skills in Gaelic

An ability to speak, read or write Gaelic does not imply an ability to understand Gaelic unless stated. Persons in these categories may or may not have the ability to understand Gaelic.

 

Language, skills in Scots

A person aged three and over is classified with skills in Scots if they can do one or more of the following:

  • Understand spoken Scots
  • Speak Scots
  • Read Scots, or
  • Write Scots.

Applicable to Scotland only.

 

Language in Scotland

The language that a person uses at home.

 

Language other than English used at home

The language (other than English) that a person uses at home.

 

Language, skills in Welsh

A person aged three and over is classified with skills in Welsh if they can do one or more of the following: understand spoken Welsh, speak Welsh, read Welsh, or write Welsh. In results that classify people by Welsh language skills a person may appear in more than one category depending on which combination of skills they have.

Applicable to Wales only

 

Language, Welsh profile

This 'Welsh language profile' classifies usual residents aged 3 and over by Welsh language skills, for Wales as at census day, 27 March 2011. People with skills in Welsh are further categorised by key age groups.

Applicable to Wales only

 

Language, ability to speak Welsh

A person is classified as being able to read Welsh if they ticked 'Reads Welsh'.

 

Language, number of people who can speak Welsh

Number of people in household aged 3 and over who can speak Welsh
Applicable to Wales only.

 

Language, ability of parents to speak Welsh

Parent(s) ability to speak Welsh
Applicable to Wales only.

 

Language, ability of dependent child in a family to speak Welsh

Ability of dependent child in a family to speak Welsh.
Applicable to Wales only.

 

Living arrangements

The 'living arrangements' classification combines responses to the question on marital and civil partnership status with information about whether or not a person is living in a couple. This topic is only applicable to people in households. Living arrangements differs from marital and civil partnership status because cohabiting takes priority over other categories. For example, if a person is divorced and cohabiting, then in results for living arrangements they are classified as cohabiting.

 

Living arrangements (alternative classification)

The 'living arrangements' classification combines responses to the question on marital and civil partnership status with information about whether or not a person is living in a couple. This classification is only applicable to people in households.
Living arrangements differs from marital and civil partnership status because cohabiting takes priority over other categories. For example, if a person is divorced and cohabiting, then in results for living arrangements they are classified as cohabiting.

 

Lone-parent households with dependent children where the lone parent is aged 16 to 74

In most tables, the term 'lone-parent household' is used to describe a household that comprises a lone parent family and no other person. In the alternative household type variable, a lone-parent household is defined as a household that contains at least one lone-parent family but does not contain any married, same-sex civil partnership or cohabiting couples.

A count of the dependent children living in a household. A dependent child is a person aged 0 to 15 in a household (whether or not in a family) or aged 16 to 18 in full-time education and living in a family with his or her parent(s) or grandparent(s). It does not include any children who have a spouse, partner or child living in the household.

 

Long-term condition, type of

People with more than one condition are counted separately for each condition but only once in the 'All people'/'All people in households' and 'One or more conditions' categories.

  1. 'Communication difficulty' means a difficulty with speaking or making yourself understood.
  2. 'A mobility or dexterity difficulty' means a condition that substantially limits one or more basic physical activities such as walking, climbing stairs, lifting or carrying.
  3. 'An emotional, psychological or mental health condition' includes conditions such as depression or schizophrenia.
  4. 'Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing' includes conditions such as asthma.
  5. 'A chronic illness' includes illnesses such as cancer, HIV, diabetes, heart disease or epilepsy.
  6. 'Long-term' refers to a condition which has lasted, or is expected to last, at least 12 months.

 

Long-term health problem or disability

A long-term health problem or disability that limits a person's day-to-day activities, and has lasted, or is expected to last, at least 12 months. This includes problems that are related to old age. People were asked to assess whether their daily activities were limited a lot or a little by such a health problem, or whether their daily activities were not limited at all.

 

Long-term health problem or disability, number of people

This variable records the number of people in the household who may or may not have a long-term health problem or disability.
A long-term health problem or disability that limits a person's day-to-day activities, and has lasted, or is expected to last, at least 12 months. This includes problems that are related to old age. People were asked to assess whether their daily activities were limited a lot or a little by such a health problem, or whether their daily activities were not limited at all.

 

Marital and civil partnership status

Marital and civil partnership status classifies an individual according to their legal marital or registered same-sex civil partnership status as at census day, 27 March 2011.
This topic is the equivalent of the 2001 Census topic 'Marital status', but has undergone significant revision to take account of the Civil Partnership Act which came into force on 5 December 2005.
Marital and civil partnership states include: married/in a registered same-sex civil partnership separated (but still legally married/in a registered same-sex civil partnership), divorced/formerly in a registered same-sex civil partnership, or widowed/surviving same-sex civil partner.
Although the term 'single' is widely used to cover people in a number of states such as divorced or separated it is not a legally recognised status and was not an option on the census questionnaire. In census results the term 'single' is used to refer only to someone who has never been married or in a registered same-sex civil partnership, which were options on the census questionnaire.

 

National identity

A person's national identity is a self-determined assessment of their own identity with respect to the country or countries with which they feel an affiliation. This assessment of identity is not dependent on legal nationality or ethnic group.
The national identity question included six tick box responses: one for each of the four parts of the UK (English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish), one for British, and one for 'other'. Where a person ticked 'other' they were asked to write in the name of the country. People were asked to tick all options that they felt applied to them. This means that in results relating to national identity people may be classified with a single national identity or a combination of identities.

 

National identity (classification 1)

In Classification 1 outputs, the National Identity categories are mutually exclusive and will add to 100%.

 

National identity (classification 2)

People were asked to tick all options that they felt applied to them. This means that in results relating to national identity, people may be classified with a single national identity or a combination of identities. In Classification 2 outputs, the National Identity categories are not mutually exclusive and therefore may add to more than 100%.

 

National identity in Northern Ireland

A person's national identity is a self-determined assessment of their own identity with respect tothe country or countries with which they feel an affiliation. This assessment of identity is not dependent on legal nationality or ethnic group.
The national identity question included seven tickbox responses:

  1. English
  2. Welsh
  3. Scottish
  4. Northern Irish
  5. British
  6. Irish
  7. Other (where a person ticked 'Other' they were asked to write in the name of the country)

People were asked to tick all options that they felt applied to them. This means that in results relating to national identity people may be classified with a single national identity or a combination of identities.
British identity excludes responses indicating an identity related to the British Virgin Islands and British Overseas Territories.

This topic reports the categories for which there are 10 or more usual residents. Where there are fewer than 10 usual residents for any category, these have been reported in a residual group which may or may not contain 10 or more usual residents in total.

 

National identity in Scotland

A person's national identity is a self-determined assessment of their own identity with respect to the country or countries with which they feel an affiliation.
This assessment of identity is not dependent on legal nationality or ethnic group.

 

Non-UK born short-term residents

A non-UK born short-term resident is defined as anyone living in England and Wales who was born outside the UK, who intended to stay in the UK for a period of between 3 and 12 months.

 

NS-SeC (National Statistics Socio-economic Classification)

The National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (NS-SeC) provides an indication of socio-economic position based on occupation. It is an Office for National Statistics standard classification.
To assign a person aged 16 to 74 to an NS-SeC category, their occupation title is combined with information about their employment status, whether they are employed or self-employed and whether or not they supervise other employees. Full-time students are recorded in the 'full-time students' category regardless of whether they are economically active or not. The rebased version of NS-SeC used in census results uses occupation coded to SOC2010. Information about the classification is available here: NS-SEC rebased on SOC2010.
For 'Long-term unemployed', the year last worked is 2009 or earlier.
In 2011 Census results, because the census did not ask a question about the number of employees at a person's workplace, the reduced method of deriving NS-SeC (which does not require this information) is used.

 

NS-SeC (National Statistics Socio-economic Classification) (alternative classification)

The National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (NS-SEC) provides an indication of socio-economic position based on occupation. It is an Office for National Statistics standard classification. To assign a person to an NS-SEC category, their occupation title is combined with information about their employment status, whether they are employed or self-employed, and whether or not they supervise other employees. Full-time students are recorded in the 'full-time students' category regardless of whether they are economically active or not.
The rebased version of NS-SEC used in census results uses occupation coded to SOC2010. Information about the classification is available here: NS-SEC rebased on SOC2010. Because the census did not ask a question about the number of employees at a person's workplace, the reduced method of deriving NS-SEC (which does not require this information) is used. Note that the category L16 'Occupation not stated or inadequately described' is not included in census tables because missing answers are imputed.

 

NS-SeC (National Statistics Socio-economic Classification) of household reference person

The National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (NS-SeC) provides an indication of socio-economic position based on occupation. It is an Office for National Statistics standard classification. To assign a person aged 16 to 74 to an NS-SeC category, their occupation title is combined with information about their employment status, whether they are employed or self-employed, and whether or not they supervise other employees. Full-time students are recorded in the 'full-time students' category regardless of whether they are economically active or not.The rebased version of NS-SeC used in census results uses occupation coded to SOC2010. Information about the classification is available here: NS-SEC rebased on SOC2010.
In 2011 Census results, because the census did not ask a question about the number of employees at a person's workplace, the reduced method of deriving NS-SeC (which does not require this information) is used.
The concept of a Household Reference Person (HRP) was introduced in the 2001 Census (in common with other government surveys in 2001/2) to replace the traditional concept of the 'head of the household'. HRPs provide an individual person within a household to act as a reference point for producing further derived statistics and for characterising a whole household according to characteristics of the chosen reference person.

 

NS-SeC (National Statistics Socio-economic Classification) of household reference person (alternative classification)

The National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (NS-SEC) provides an indication of socio-economic position based on occupation. It is an Office for National Statistics standard classification. To assign a person to an NS-SEC category, their occupation title is combined with information about their employment status, whether they are employed or self-employed, and whether or not they supervise other employees. Full-time students are recorded in the 'full-time students' category regardless of whether they are economically active or not.
The rebased version of NS-SEC used in census results uses occupation coded to SOC2010. Information about the classification is available here: NS-SEC rebased on SOC2010.
Because the census did not ask a question about the number of employees at a person's workplace, the reduced method of deriving NS-SEC (which does not require this information) is used. Note that the category L16 'Occupation not stated or inadequately described' is not included in census tables because missing answers are imputed.

The concept of a Household Reference Person (HRP) was introduced in the 2001 Census (in common with other government surveys in 2001/2) to replace the traditional concept of the 'head of the household'. HRPs provide an individual person within a household to act as a reference point for producing further derived statistics and for characterising a whole household according to characteristics of the chosen reference person.
For a person living alone, it follows that this person is the HRP.
If a household contains only one family (with or without ungrouped individuals) then the HRP is the same as the Family Reference Person (FRP).
For families in which there is generational divide between family members that cannot be determined (Other related family), there is no FRP. Members of these families are treated the same as ungrouped individuals.
If there is more than one family in a household the HRP is chosen from among the FRPs using the same criteria used to choose the FRP. This means the HRP will be selected from the FRPs on the basis of their economic activity, in the priority order:

  • Economically active, employed, full-time, non-student
  • Economically active, employed, full-time, student
  • Economically active, employed, part-time, non-student
  • Economically active, employed, part-time, student
  • Economically active, unemployed, non-student
  • Economically active, unemployed, student
  • Economically inactive, retired
  • Economically inactive, other
If some or all FRPs have the same economic activity, the HRP is the eldest of the FRPs. If some or all are the same age, the HRP is the first of the FRPs from the order in which they were listed on the questionnaire.
If a household is made up entirely of any combination of ungrouped individuals and other related families, the HRP is chosen from among all people in the household, using the same criteria used to choose between FRPs. Students at their non term-time address and short-term migrants cannot be the HRP.

 

Occupation

A person's occupation relates to their main job and is derived from either their job title or details of the activities involved in their job. This is used to assign responses to an occupation code based on the Standard Occupational Classification 2010 (SOC2010).

 

Occupation, former

A person's former occupation is coded from the response to the question asking for the full title of their previous main job and the description of what was done in that job. It is coded to the 2010 edition of the Standard Occupational Classification 2010 (SOC2010).

 

Occupation (minor groups)

A person's occupation relates to their main job and is derived from either their job title or details of the activities involved in their job. This is used to assign responses to an occupation code based on the Standard Occupational Classification 2010 (SOC2010).

 

Occupation (skill level)

Please see: ONS Skill Levels within Occupation.

 

Occupation of household reference person

A person's occupation relates to their main job and is derived from either their job title or details of the activities involved in their job. This is used to assign responses to an occupation code based on the Standard Occupational Classification 2010 (SOC2010).

The concept of a Household Reference Person (HRP) was introduced in the 2001 Census (in common with other government surveys in 2001/2) to replace the traditional concept of the 'head of the household'. HRPs provide an individual person within a household to act as a reference point for producing further derived statistics and for characterising a whole household according to characteristics of the chosen reference person.

 

Passports held (classification 1)

In results that classify people by passports held, those who hold a United Kingdom or Irish passport, and any other type of passport, will appear in each applicable category.
In Classification 1 outputs, the Passports Held categories are not mutually exclusive and therefore may add to more than 100%.

 

Passports held (classification 2)

In Classification 2 outputs, the Passports Held categories are mutually exclusive and will add to 100%.

 

Passports held (principle)

Results for 'passports held' classify a person according to the passport or passports they held at the time of the 2011 Census. People were asked to indicate whether they held no passport, a United Kingdom passport, an Irish passport or a passport from another country, and write in the name of the other country if applicable. If more than one of the options were applicable, people were asked to indicate all that applied.
In results that classify people by passports held, those who hold a United Kingdom or Irish passport, and any other type of passport, will appear in each applicable category. The categories 'EU countries' and 'non-EU countries' relate to the European Union (EU) as at March 2011.
This topic counts each person only once, therefore people only appear in one category even if they hold more than one passport. In cases where a person recorded having more than one passport, they were categorised in the following priority order: 1. UK passport, 2. Irish passport, 3. Other passport.

 

Passports held (total)

Results for 'passports held' classify a person according to the passport or passports they held at the time of the 2011 Census. People were asked to indicate whether they held no passport, a United Kingdom passport, an Irish passport or a passport from another country, and write in the name of the other country if applicable. If more than one of the options were applicable, people were asked to indicate all that applied.
In results that classify people by passports held, those who hold a United Kingdom or Irish passport, and any other type of passport, will appear in each applicable category. The categories 'EU countries' and 'non-EU countries' relate to the European Union (EU) as at March 2011.

 

Passports held in Northern Ireland

Results for 'Passports held' classify a person according the passport or passports that they held at the time of the 2011 Census. People were asked to indicate whether they held no passport, a United Kingdom passport, an Irish passport, or a passport from another country, and to write in the name of the other country if applicable. If more than one of the options were applicable people were asked to indicate all that applied.
In results that classify people by passports held, those who hold a United Kingdom or Irish passport, and any other type of passport, will appear in each applicable category.
The categories 'EU countries' and 'non-EU countries' relate to the European Union (EU) as at March 2011.

 

Place of residence one year before the census

Place of residence one year before the census only includes residents aged 1 and above.

 

Population (usual residents)

The main population base for statistics from the 2011 Census is the usual resident population as at census day, 27 March 2011. Although the population base for enumeration included non-UK born short-term residents, this population is analysed separately and is not included in the main outputs from the 2011 Census.
All statistics, unless specified, are produced using only usual residents of the UK.For 2011 Census purposes, a usual resident of the UK is anyone who, on census day, 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.For information about the main population base for statistics, how other population sub-groups are counted, and all variable definitions, see information about variables and classifications.

 

Population (daytime/workday)

  England and Wales
The daytime population comprises all usual residents who are either in employment or full-time students in the area, or are neither in employment nor full-time students and live in the area. This does not include those persons working or studying in the area who live outside Northern Ireland. 'No fixed place of work or study' was counted as if working or studying in the area.

  Northern Ireland
The following population groups are excluded from the daytime population of an area:

  • Those living in Northern Ireland but working or studying in England, Wales, Scotland, outside the UK or on offshore installations
  • Those with a place of work or study in Northern Ireland but who are not usually resident in Northern Ireland
  • Short-term residents


The workday population of an area is defined as all usual residents aged 16 and above who are in employment and whose workplace is in the area, and all other usual residents of any age who are not in employment but are resident in the area. People who work mainly at or from home or do not have a fixed place of work are included in their area of their usual residence.
The following population groups are excluded from the workday population of an area:
  • Those living in England and Wales but working in Scotland, Northern Ireland, outside the UK or on offshore installations.
  • Those with a place of work in England and Wales but who are not usually resident in England and Wales, and short-term residents.

 

Population (daytime/usual residents), reconciliation of (Local Government District)

The daytime population comprises all usual residents who are either in employment or full-time students in the area, or are neither in employment nor full-time students and live in the area. This does not include those persons working or studying in the area who live outside Northern Ireland.
In Northern Ireland, 18,730 people who gave inconsistent information between question 29 on their employment status and question 43 on their address of work or study were excluded. This equates to approximately 2.4 per cent of the working population aged 16 and over, excluding students.
People who answered 'No fixed place of work or study' were counted as working or studying in the area.

 

Population (daytime/usual residents), reconciliation of (Northern Ireland)

The daytime population comprises all usual residents who are either in employment or full-time students in the area, or are neither in employment nor full-time students and live in the area. This does not include those persons working or studying in the area who live outside Northern Ireland.
In Northern Ireland, 18,730 people who gave inconsistent information between question 29 on their employment status and question 43 on their address of work or study were excluded. This equates to approximately 2.4 per cent of the working population aged 16 and over, excluding students.
People who answered 'No fixed place of work or study' were counted as working or studying in the area.

 

Population (daytime), components of (Local Government District)

The daytime population comprises all usual residents who are either in employment or full-time students in the area, or are neither in employment nor full-time students and live in the area. This does not include those persons working or studying in the area who live outside Northern Ireland.

 

Population (daytime), components of (Northern Ireland)

The daytime population comprises all usual residents who are either in employment or full-time students in the area, or are neither in employment nor full-time students and live in the area. This does not include those persons working or studying in the area who live outside Northern Ireland.

 

Population (workplace), components of (Local Government District)

The workplace population of an area is defined as 'All usual residents aged 16 to 74 who are in employment and whose workplace is in the area'. People who work mainly at or from home or do not have a fixed place of work are included in the area of their usual residence.
The following population groups are excluded from the workplace population of an area:

  • those not working the week before 27 March 2011;
  • those living in Northern Ireland but working in England

 

Population (workplace), components of (Northern Ireland)

The workplace population of an area is defined as 'All usual residents aged 16 to 74 who are in employment and whose workplace is in the area'. People who work mainly at or from home or do not have a fixed place of work are included in the area of their usual residence.
The following population groups are excluded from the workplace population of an area:

  • those not working the week before 27 March 2011;
  • those living in Northern Ireland but working in England

 

Population (out of term-time)

All usual residents living in the area out of term-time.

 

Qualification, highest level of

The highest level of qualification is derived from the question asking people to indicate all types of qualifications held. People were also asked if they held foreign qualifications and to indicate the closest equivalent.
There were 12 response options (plus 'no qualifications') covering professional and vocational qualifications, and a range of academic qualificationsThese are combined into five categories for the highest level of qualification, plus a category for no qualifications and one for other qualifications (which includes vocational or work-related qualifications, and for foreign qualifications where an equivalent qualification was not indicated).

No Qualifications: No academic or professional qualifications.
Level 1 qualifications: 1-4 O Levels/CSE/GCSEs (any grades), Entry Level, Foundation Diploma, NVQ level 1, Foundation GNVQ, Basic/Essential Skills.
Level 2 qualifications: 5+ O Level (Passes)/CSEs (Grade 1)/GCSEs (Grades A*-C), School Certificate, 1 A Level/ 2-3 AS Levels/VCEs, Intermediate/Higher Diploma, Welsh Baccalaureate Intermediate Diploma, NVQ level 2, Intermediate GNVQ, City and Guilds Craft, BTEC First/General Diploma, RSA DiplomaApprenticeship.
Level 3 qualifications: 2+ A Levels/VCEs, 4+ AS Levels, Higher School Certificate, Progression/Advanced Diploma, Welsh Baccalaureate Advanced Diploma, NVQ Level 3; Advanced GNVQ, City and Guilds Advanced Craft, ONC, OND, BTEC National, RSA Advanced Diploma.
Level 4+ qualifications: Degree (for example BA, BSc), Higher Degree (for example MA, PhD, PGCE), NVQ Level 4-5, HNC, HND, RSA Higher Diploma, BTEC Higher level, Foundation degree (NI), Professional qualifications (for example teaching, nursing, accountancy).
Other qualifications: Vocational/Work-related Qualifications, Foreign Qualifications (Not stated/ level unknown).

 

Qualifications gained

The qualifications classification counts all of the academic or vocational/professional qualifications that a person has obtained, for example A levels, diploma, apprenticeship, nursing or accountancy qualifications. People were asked to tick all of the categories applicable to their qualifications. People were also asked if they held foreign qualifications and to indicate the closest equivalent qualifications from the other categories listed. People who did this are counted in both the 'foreign qualifications' category and any other applicable category equivalent to their foreign qualifications.

 

Religion

This is a person's current religion, or if the person does not have a religion, 'no religion'. No determination is made about whether a person was a practicing member of a religion. Unlike other census questions where missing answers are imputed, this question was voluntary, and where no answer was provided the response is categorised as 'not stated'.

 

Religion (detailed)

This is a person's current religion, or if the person does not have a religion, 'no religion'. No determination is made about whether a person was a practicing member of a religion. Unlike other census questions where missing answers are imputed, this question was voluntary, and where no answer was provided the response is categorised as 'not stated'.

 

Religion of household reference person

Religion of Household reference personThis is a person's current religion, or if the person does not have a religion, 'no religion'. No determination is made about whether a person was a practicing member of a religion. Unlike other census questions where missing answers are imputed, this question was voluntary, and where no answer was provided the response is categorised as 'not stated'.
The concept of a Household Reference Person (HRP) was introduced in the 2001 Census (in common with other government surveys in 2001/2) to replace the traditional concept of the 'head of the household'. HRPs provide an individual person within a household to act as a reference point for producing further derived statistics and for characterising a whole household according to characteristics of the chosen reference person.

 

Religion in Northern Ireland

Those people who regard themselves as belonging to a religion are asked to indicate which religion, religious denomination or body they belong to. Missing answers for the Religion variable are not imputed so the classifications include a 'not stated' category. Those people who do not regard themselves as belonging to any particular religion are classified as belonging to 'No religion'. A supplementary question was included asking those people who do not regard themselves as belonging to any particular religion to answer a question on which religion, religious denomination or body they were brought up in. This information is only used in the derivation of  Religion or religion brought up in and is not included in the Religion variable.

 

Religion of household reference person in Northern Ireland

Those people who regard themselves as belonging to a religion are asked to indicate which religion, religious denomination or body they belong to. Missing answers for the Religion variable are not imputed so the classifications include a 'Not stated' category. Those people who do not regard themselves as belonging to any particular religion are classified as belonging to 'No religion'. A supplementary question was included asking those people who do not regard themselves as belonging to any particular religion to answer a question on which religion, religious denomination or body they were brought up in. This information is only used in the derivation of  Religion or religion brought up in and is not included in the Religion variable.

The concept of a Household Reference Person (HRP) was introduced in the 2001 Census (in common with other government surveys in 2001/2) to replace the traditional concept of the 'head of the household'. HRPs provide an individual person within a household to act as a reference point for producing further derived statistics and for characterising a whole household according to characteristics of the chosen reference person.
For a person living alone, it follows that this person is the HRP.
If a household contains only one family (with or without ungrouped individuals) then the HRP is the same as the Family Reference Person (FRP).
For families in which there is generational divide between family members that cannot be determined (Other related family), there is no FRP. Members of these families are treated the same as ungrouped individuals.
If there is more than one family in a household the HRP is chosen from among the FRPs using the same criteria used to choose the FRP. This means the HRP will be selected from the FRPs on the basis of their economic activity, in the priority order:

  • Economically active, employed, full-time, non-student
  • Economically active, employed, full-time, student
  • Economically active, employed, part-time, non-student
  • Economically active, employed, part-time, student
  • Economically active, unemployed, non-student
  • Economically active, unemployed, student
  • Economically inactive, retired
  • Economically inactive, other
If some or all FRPs have the same economic activity, the HRP is the eldest of the FRPs. If some or all are the same age, the HRP is the first of the FRPs from the order in which they were listed on the questionnaire.
If a household is made up entirely of any combination of ungrouped individuals and other related families, the HRP is chosen from among all people in the household, using the same criteria used to choose between FRPs. Students at their non term-time address and short-term migrants cannot be the HRP.

 

Religion or religion brought up in for Northern Ireland

This identifies the religious group brought up in for people who do not regard themselves as belonging to any religion. The categories of Religion or religion brought up in are: Catholic; Protestant; Other Christian and Christian-related; Other Religions; and None.
The category 'Catholic' includes those respondents who gave their religion as Roman Catholic, Catholic Apostolic Church, Ukrainian Catholic, Greek Catholic, or Catholic. Responses have been categorised as 'Catholic; Protestant; Other Christian and Christian-related; or Other Religions' on the basis of the best available information, although it is acknowledged that the categorisation of some of the smaller religions is open to interpretation.

Applicable in Northern Ireland only.

 

Religion or religion brought up in for Northern Ireland (household structures)

This identifies the religious group brought up in for people who do not regard themselves as belonging to any religion. The categories of Religion or religion brought up in are: Catholic; Protestant; Other Christian and Christian-related; Other Religions; and None.
The category 'Catholic' includes those respondents who gave their religion as Roman Catholic, Catholic Apostolic Church, Ukrainian Catholic, Greek Catholic, or Catholic. Responses have been categorised as 'Catholic; Protestant; Other Christian and Christian-related; or Other Religions' on the basis of the best available information, although it is acknowledged that the categorisation of some of the smaller religions is open to interpretation.

Applicable in Northern Ireland only.

 

Religion or religion brought up in of household reference person in Northern Ireland

This identifies the religious group brought up in for people who do not regard themselves as belonging to any religion. The categories of Religion or religion brought up in are: Catholic; Protestant; Other Christian and Christian-related; Other Religions; and None.
The category 'Catholic' includes those respondents who gave their religion as Roman Catholic, Catholic Apostolic Church, Ukrainian Catholic, Greek Catholic, or Catholic. Responses have been categorised as 'Catholic; Protestant; Other Christian and Christian-related; or Other Religions' on the basis of the best available information, although it is acknowledged that the categorisation of some of the smaller religions is open to interpretation.

The concept of a Household Reference Person (HRP) was introduced in the 2001 Census (in common with other government surveys in 2001/2) to replace the traditional concept of the 'head of the household'. HRPs provide an individual person within a household to act as a reference point for producing further derived statistics and for characterising a whole household according to characteristics of the chosen reference person.
For a person living alone, it follows that this person is the HRP.
If a household contains only one family (with or without ungrouped individuals) then the HRP is the same as the Family Reference Person (FRP).
For families in which there is generational divide between family members that cannot be determined (Other related family), there is no FRP. Members of these families are treated the same as ungrouped individuals.
If there is more than one family in a household the HRP is chosen from among the FRPs using the same criteria used to choose the FRP. This means the HRP will be selected from the FRPs on the basis of their economic activity, in the priority order:

  • Economically active, employed, full-time, non-student
  • Economically active, employed, full-time, student
  • Economically active, employed, part-time, non-student
  • Economically active, employed, part-time, student
  • Economically active, unemployed, non-student
  • Economically active, unemployed, student
  • Economically inactive, retired
  • Economically inactive, other
If some or all FRPs have the same economic activity, the HRP is the eldest of the FRPs. If some or all are the same age, the HRP is the first of the FRPs from the order in which they were listed on the questionnaire.
If a household is made up entirely of any combination of ungrouped individuals and other related families, the HRP is chosen from among all people in the household, using the same criteria used to choose between FRPs. Students at their non term-time address and short-term migrants cannot be the HRP.

Applicable in Northern Ireland only.

 

Religion in Scotland

This is a person's current religious denomination or body that they belong to, or if the person does not have a religion, 'None'. No determination is made about whether a person was a practising member of a religion. Unlike other census questions where missing answers are imputed, this question was voluntary, and where no answer was provided the response is categorised as 'Not stated'.

 

Residence in the UK, length of

The length of residence in the UK is derived from the date that a person last arrived to live in the UK. Short visits away from the UK are not counted in determining the date that a person last arrived.
Length of residence is only applicable to usual residents who were not born in the UK. It does not include usual residents born in the UK who have emigrated and since returned - these are recorded in the category 'Born in the UK'.

 

Residence type

This defines the type of residence that a person lives in. It categorises people as living in a household or living in a communal establishment.
People who filled in the normal household questionnaire were recorded as living in a household. Those that filled in an individual questionnaire were asked what type of accommodation they lived in, i.e. whether it was a household or a communal establishment.

 

Rooms, number of

The number of rooms in a household's accommodation. The definition of a room does not include bathrooms, toilets, halls or landings, or rooms that can only be used for storage. All other rooms, for example kitchens, living rooms, bedrooms, utility rooms, studies and conservatories are counted. If two rooms have been converted into one they are counted as one room. Rooms shared between a number of households, for example a shared kitchen, are not counted. The number of rooms is not available for household spaces with no usual residents.

 

Rooms, number of persons per room

The number of persons per room is equal to the number of usual residents in a household divided by the number of rooms in that household's accommodation. The definition of a room does not include bathrooms, toilets, halls or landings, or rooms that can only be used for storage. All other rooms, for example kitchens, living rooms, bedrooms, utility rooms, studies and conservatories are counted.If two rooms have been converted into one, they are counted as one room. Rooms shared between a number of households, for example a shared kitchen, are not counted.

 

Rooms, occupancy rating

Occupancy rating provides a measure of whether a household's accommodation is overcrowded or under occupied. There are two measures of occupancy rating, one based on the number of rooms in a household's accommodation, and one based on the number of bedrooms. The ages of the household members and their relationships to each other are used to derive the number of rooms/bedrooms they require, based on a standard formula. The number of rooms/bedrooms required is subtracted from the number of rooms/bedrooms in the household's accommodation to obtain the occupancy rating. An occupancy rating of -1 implies that a household has one fewer room/bedroom than required, whereas +1 implies that they have one more room/bedroom than the standard requirement.

 

Schoolchildren and full-time students away during term-time

Schoolchildren and students in full-time education studying away from their family home are treated as usually resident at their term-time address. Basic demographic information only (name, sex, age, marital status and relationship) is collected at their non-term-time address (their 'home' or 'vacation' address). The information on families, household size and household composition for their non-term-time address does not include them.

 

Schoolchildren and full-time students, age of

Age is derived from the date of birth question and is a person's age at their last birthday, at 27 March 2011. Dates of birth that imply an age over 115 are treated as invalid and the person's age is imputed. Infants less than one year old are classified as 0 years of age.

 

Second address

A second address is an address at which a person stays for more than 30 days per year that is not a person's place of usual residence. This includes addresses that are in the UK and those outside the UK.
Typical second addresses include armed forces bases, addresses used by people working away from home, a student's home address, the address of another parent or guardian, or a holiday home.
If a person with a second address was staying at that address on census night, they were classed as a visitor to that address, but counted as a usual resident at their home address.

 

Second address location

The location of the second address.
A second address is an address at which a person stays for more than 30 days per year that is not a person's place of usual residence. This includes addresses that are in the UK and those outside the UK.
Typical second addresses include armed forces bases, addresses used by people working away from home, a student's home address, the address of another parent or guardian, or a holiday home.
If a person with a second address was staying at that address on census night, they were classed as a visitor to that address, but counted as a usual resident at their home address.

 

Second address type

The type of second address.
A second address is an address at which a person stays for more than 30 days per year that is not a person's place of usual residence. This includes addresses that are in the UK and those outside the UK.
Typical second addresses include armed forces bases, addresses used by people working away from home, a student's home address, the address of another parent or guardian, or a holiday home.
If a person with a second address was staying at that address on census night, they were classed as a visitor to that address, but counted as a usual resident at their home address.

 

Sex

The classification of a person as either male or female.

 

Social grade, approximated

Social Grade is the socio-economic classification used by the Market Research and Marketing Industries, most often in the analysis of spending habits and consumer attitudes. Although it is not possible to allocate Social Grade precisely from information collected by the 2011 Census, the Market Research Society has developed a method for using Census information to provide a good approximation of Social Grade.

 

Social grade of household reference person, approximated

Social Grade is the socio-economic classification used by the Market Research and Marketing Industries, most often in the analysis of spending habits and consumer attitudes. Although it is not possible to allocate Social Grade precisely from information collected by the 2011 Census, the Market Research Society has developed a method for using Census information to provide a good approximation of Social Grade.
The concept of a Household Reference Person (HRP) was introduced in the 2001 Census (in common with other government surveys in 2001/2) to replace the traditional concept of the 'head of the household'. HRPs provide an individual person within a household to act as a reference point for producing further derived statistics and for characterising a whole household according to characteristics of the chosen reference person.

 

Student accommodation

Student term-time accommodation for all students (i.e. schoolchildren and students aged 4 and over in full-time education) living in households and communal establishments. For students in households, the classification is derived by looking at the other members of the household, their student status and their generation in family.
Student accommodation defines the type of accommodation a schoolchild or student lives in during term-time and therefore relates only to their term-time address.

 

Student accommodation (alternative classification)

Student term-time accommodation for all students (i.e. schoolchildren and students aged 4 and over in full-time education) living in households and communal establishments. For students in households the classification is derived by looking at the other members of the household, their student status and their generation in family.

 

Tenure

Tenure provides information about whether a household rents or owns the accommodation that it occupies and, if rented, combines this with information about the type of landlord who owns or manages the accommodation.

 

Tenure (alternative classification)

The tenure of a household is derived from the response to the question asking whether the household owns or rents its accommodation and, if rented, from the response to the question asking who the landlord is.

Applicable to Northern Ireland.

 

Travel to place of work, means of

The means of travel used for the longest part, by distance, of the usual journey to work. This topic is only applicable to people who were in employment in the week before the census.
'Public transport' and 'car or van availability' are a different statistic to the 2001 Census.

 

Travel to place of work, means of (2001 specifications)

This dataset provides 2011 Census estimates that classify the workday population aged 16 to 74 in England and Wales by method of travel to work. The estimates are as at census day, 27 March 2011.
The information in datasets that use the 2001 specifications of 'Travel to Work' is produced using both a person's place of work and their method of travel to work and is comparable with 2001. For example, a person who has indicated their place of work as their home address and said that they travel to work by driving a car or van (e.g. visiting clients) appears in the category 'Works mainly at or from home'.

 

Travel to place of work or study, means of

'Public transport' and 'car or van availability' are a different statistic to the 2001 Census
Scotland Excludes some 4 and 5 year olds (a total of 11,876 in Scotland) who were reported as being in full-time education but for whom no information on their place of study or method of travel to study was provided.

 

Travel to place of work or study, means of (alternative classification)

The method of travel used for the longest part, by distance, of the usual journey to work or place of study (including school).

 

Travel to place of study, means of

The method of travel used for the longest part, by distance, of the usual journey to place of study.

 

Travel to place of work, distance travelled

The distance in kilometres between a person's residential postcode and their workplace postcode, measured in a straight line.
Derived distances that result in a distance travelled that exceeds 1200km are treated as invalid and a value is imputed. A distance travelled of 0.1km indicates that the workplace postcode is the same as the residential postcode.

 

Travel to place of work or study, distance travelled

The distance in kilometres between a person's residential postcode and their workplace postcode or the postcode of their place of study, measured in a straight line.
Derived distances that result in a distance travelled that exceeds 1200km are treated as invalid and a value is imputed. A distance travelled of 0.1km indicates that the workplace postcode is the same as the residential postcode.

  Northern Ireland
Question 43 in the Census questionnaire asked all respondents to provide information relating to where they travelled to for their main job or course of study (including school). It was anticipated from this question that those in employment would indicate where they worked and those who were studying would give information relating to their place of study. Those in neither category were expected to tick 'Not currently working or studying'.
Outputs from this question show that there were approximately 30,000 students of Primary School age to 15 who are reported as  Studying mainly at or from home . While it was expected that there would be a certain number of students being home-schooled, this is considerably higher than the Department of Education estimate.
The Census responses concerned were examined in an attempt to establish the reasons behind these unexpected results. In almost half of these responses, it was identified that the data processing stage which resolved  tick and text responses had set Question 43 to  Work or study mainly at or from home where the postcode of place of work or study was the same as their enumeration postcode. In the remainder, the respondents may have misunderstood the question and answered in relation to the place where they study or do homework instead of their place of study.
These two scenarios would serve to increase the number of respondents reported as  Studying mainly at or from home and should be noted by the user.

 

Travel to place of study, distance travelled

The distance in kilometres between a person's residential postcode and the postcode of their place of study, measured in a straight line.
Derived distances that result in a distance travelled that exceeds 1200km are treated as invalid and a value is imputed. A distance travelled of 0.1km indicates that the postcode of their place of study is the same as the residential postcode.

 

Unemployment history

This defines the year that a person last worked. People who were in full-time and part-time employment are not counted in this variable.

 

Unit

The unit is for a particular count (e.g. people or households)

 

Usual residence, place of

For the 2011 Census, a person's place of usual residence is generally the address in the UK at which they spend the majority of time. For most people this means their permanent or family home.
The census counted someone as usually resident at their permanent or family home if, on 27 March 2011:

  • they were temporarily away from home, for example on holiday, visiting friends or relatives or travelling (unless outside of the UK for 12 months or more)
  • they were in a communal establishment such as a care home, hospital or similar establishment for less than six months
  • they were a baby born on or before 27 March 2011, even if still in hospital
  • they had more than one UK address and were staying at the second address on census night.

In addition to people present at their permanent or family home, the 2011 Census counted someone as usually resident at an address if on 27 March 2011:
  • they were a usual resident of the UK and present at an address on census night, even if only for one night, and had no other usual address in the UK.

Someone was not counted as usually resident at an address if, on 27 March 2011:
  • the address at which they were staying was not their usual address and they usually lived elsewhere in the UK (these people were counted as visitors to the address)
  • they were away from their home address and had been staying or were expecting to stay in a communal establishment such as a care home or hospital for six months or more (these people were enumerated as usually resident at the communal establishment).

Further clarification is applicable to the definition of place of usual residence certain population sub-groups:
  • Students and schoolchildren in full-time education studying away from the family home were counted as usually resident at their term-time address. Basic demographic information only (name, sex, age, marital status and relationship) was collected at their non-term-time ('home' or vacation) address.
  • Armed forces personnel were counted as usually resident at their permanent or family home even if the majority of their time was spent at their 'working' address. Additionally, the following clarification applies to armed forces personnel with specific circumstances:
    • a member of the armed forces on deployment on operations was included at their permanent or family address regardless of length of deployment;
    • a member of the armed forces with no permanent or family address at which they were usually resident was recorded as usually resident at their base address;
    • if the permanent (stationed) base was abroad, e.g. Germany or Cyprus, then the armed forces member was not included in the census count;
    • a member of the armed forces serving on a ship inside UK waters on 27 March 2011 was counted as usually resident at their family/permanent home or resident on the ship if they did not have a family/permanent home;
    • a member of the armed forces serving on a ship outside UK waters on 27 March 2011 was counted as usually resident at their family permanent home or home port/naval base address if they did not have a family/permanent home.

Additionally, armed forces personnel from overseas forces based in the UK for three months or longer were counted as usually resident in the UK at their UK permanent or family home/base address.

People with a second address, for example those working away from home and other people with two or more addresses, were counted as usually resident at their permanent or family home even if the majority of their time is spent at another address. This includes people who spent time at a second address outside of the UK, but only if they intended to remain outside the UK for less than 12 months in total (except armed forces deployed on operations).
Children with parents who live apart and spend part of their time living with each parent were advised to be counted as usually resident at the address at which the child spent the majority of their time. If the child spent time equally living with each parent then they were advised to be counted as usually resident at the address where they were staying overnight on 27 March 2011.
For people living in communal establishments who had already spent or expected to spend six months or more in a communal establishment, for example, a care home, hospital or hostel, their place of usual residence was that communal establishment. Otherwise their place of usual residence was at their UK home address and the person was classified as a visitor to the communal establishment.

Place of usual residence for people in prison applies to sentenced prisoners in a similar way as others in communal establishments, based upon the length of their sentence. This means that:
  • if they were convicted with a sentence of six months or more then they were counted as usually resident in the prison;
  • if they were convicted with a sentence of less than six months then they were counted as usually resident at their permanent or family home and as a visitor to the prison;
  • if they were on remand then they were counted as usually resident at their permanent or family home, and as a visitor to the prison, irrespective of how long they were in prison on remand.

 

Usual residents aged 17 or over, number of

This derived variable provides a count of the number of people aged 17 or over in the household.
A household is defined as:

  • One person living alone, or
  • A group of people (not necessarily related) living at the same address who share cooking facilities and share a living room, sitting room or dining area.
This includes:
  • Sheltered accommodation units in an establishment where 50 per cent or more have their own kitchens (irrespective of whether there are other communal facilities), and
  • All people living in caravans on any type of site that is their usual residence (this will include anyone who has no other usual residence elsewhere in the UK).
A household must contain at least one person whose place of usual residence is at the address. A group of short-term residents living together is not classified as a household, and neither is a group of people at an address where only visitors are staying.

 

Voluntary work (unpaid)

People were asked to tick a yes/no response to this question. The definition of 'voluntary work' was personal to each individual respondent.

 

Working or studying, number of people in household

Provides a count of the number of people working or studying in a household.

 

Working parents, number of

This variable indicates the number of people in 'Generation 1' of a family who were working in the week before the census.

 

InFuse is part of the UK Data Service Census Support