Census Reports

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Our single most important source of statistics is the Census of Population, and we think this is the only web site anywhere containing local information from every census from 1801 to 2011. The Census Reports section of the site is therefore a systematic presentation not just of data from the census but of its main reports.

It includes a complete listing of all the censuses, of all the reports published from each, and of all the tables in each report. We have a long way to go before we will have computerised every number in every table, but if we have computerised a number we usually record not just the table it came from but the precise column and row, enabling us to reconstruct whole tables. We specialise in tables with lots of geographical detail, which are usually the biggest tables in each report -- so although we cover only a small fraction of all tables, we have computerised a much higher fraction of all pages.

As well as data we hold the full text of the Preliminary and General Reports of each census, and selected thematic reports such as the 1851 reports on Education and Religion, and the 1931 Housing Report. Some of this text has still to be added to the public site.

We have also computerised the Guide to Census Reports: Great Britain 1801-1966, published by the census offices in 1977. This provides a history of the census and of its reports. We have added hyperlinks from the Guide to the reports and tables it mentions.

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