Last updated: 22nd of February 2023
The National Data Service has been updated with the remaining Phase 1 univariate data from Census 2021.
Supplementing the first results, demography and migration and UK armed forces veterans data that had already been added, this update integrates data for the following topic summaries:
- Ethnic group, national identity, language and religion
- Labour market and travel to work
- Housing
- Sexual orientation and gender identity
- Education
- Health, disability and unpaid care
To give an idea of the scale of the undertaking, for Census 2021 we have now added about 3,800 indicators, 70 census tables and over 100,000 instances to the National Data Service.
These new indictors are located under different themes depending on the topic summary. The table below shows the top level theme in the National Data Service in each case.
| Census 2021 topic summary | NDS top level theme | Sub-themes |
|---|---|---|
| Ethnic group, national identity, language and religion | Population | Ethnicity, Identity, Language and Religion |
| Labour market and travel to work | Economy | Economic Activity Status; Travel to Work; Industry and Occupation |
| Housing | Housing | Households; People with second address; Communal establishments |
| Sexual orientation and gender identity | Population | Sexual orientation; Gender identity |
| Education | Children and Young People | Qualifications; Population and Pupil Characteristics |
| Health, disability and unpaid care | Health | Disability; General Health; Unpaid Care |
As with the previous updates, we have retained the structure the data were published in, and have also retained the name of the census table in the theme names and indicator names. This is helpful for users that are familiar with the way the census data is organised and/or the names of the tables.
Under each top level theme in the National Data Service, the old data from Census 2011 have been moved into a subtheme labeled Census 2011, to avoid confusion with the 2021 data.
Note that it is not the case that all data is available at all geographic levels. For example, the ‘detailed’ tables for Ethnicity, Identity and Religion do not contain data at LSOA 2021, nor do the tables for Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.
Data is generally not currently available for the Ward geography. We are in the process of updating the ward definition in the National Data Service to the latest (2022) wards and as part of that process, Census 2021 indicator will gain data that level wherever it has been published by ONS.
We will also be adding descriptive metadata for the Census 2021 indicators held in the service.
For customers with a managed Data Observatory website, the data are displayed in the following places:
1) Map Explorers (updated 3rd Feb 2023)
2) Data Explorer (updated 3rd Feb 2023)
3) Reports (updated 3rd– 14th Feb 2023)
The reports for upper and lower tier local authorities have been updated to replace 2011 census data with 2021 data. New reports for the LSOA 2021 geography have been added for the Population, Health and Environment themes (the other themes retain reports at the old LSOA geography for now as there is more relevant data available at this level for the time being).
Reports for custom geographies will show Census 2021 data wherever we have been able to aggregate data to these geographies from 2021 OA or LSOA levels. If any of your reports are still showing data for 2011, it may be that you need to send us an updated lookup for your custom geography in order for us to apply the aggregations.
Note that LSOA 2021 reports have also been made available in the Custom Area Reporter app (for relevant themes), if your observatory website is using this app.