Continuity between 1991 and 2001

There are some important differences between the 1991 and 2001 census that have implications for all users. These are fully spelt out in the Census 2001 Definitions volume which can be downloaded from National Statistics website or ordered from HMSO.

In this section we identify the key differences that affect SARs users, drawing on information in the Definitions Volume.

1. Population base

Usual residents
The 2001 Census information was collected only on usual residents. This contrasts to the 1991 Census which collected information on both usual residents and visitors present on Census night.

In 2001 a usual resident is defined as someone who spends the majority of their time residing at that address. It includes people who usually live at that address but who are temporarily away from home (on holiday, visiting friends or relatives, or temporarily in a hospital or similar establishment) on Census Day; people who work away from home for part of the time, or who are members of the Armed Forces; a baby born before 30 April 2001 even if it was still in hospital; and people present on Census Day, even if temporarily, who have no other usual address.

The usual resident population does not include people present at an address on Census Day whose usual address was elsewhere; or people away from their home address who had been living, or intended to live, in a special establishment such as a residential home, nursing home or hospital for six months or more (they were enumerated as usually resident at the special establishment).

Students
In the 1991 Census, students and schoolchildren were treated as usually resident at their ‘home’ or vacation address. In the 2001 census students and schoolchildren in full-time education studying away from the family home were enumerated as resident at their term-time address. Basic demographic information only (name, sex, age, marital status and relationship) was collected at their ‘home’ or vacation address. Users of the 2001 SARs will find that only this basic information is available for ‘students living away’.

It is important to note that variables that refer to families, household size and household composition relating to households at their ‘home’ or vacation address does not include them.

2. Questions in the 1991 and 2001 Censuses

Type of accommodation
In 1991, these questions were answered partly by the enumerator and partly by the householder. For 2001, only the householder provided the required information. In 1991 where the type of accommodation was ‘Part of a converted or shared house’ information was collected on whether the entrance to the building was separate or shared.

Self-contained
In 1991, this question was only asked where the type of accommodation was given as ‘Part of a converted or shared house, bungalow or flat’. In 2001, it was asked of all households.

Exclusive use of bath/shower and toilet
In 1991, separate information was available for each of these amenities, together with details on whether the toilet was located inside or outside the accommodation. For 2001, only basic information on the joint availability of these amenities was collected.

Lowest floor level of accommodation
This question had been previously asked in Scotland only. The householder wrote in the number of the lowest floor on which any of the household’s living accommodation was situated. For 2001, the question was asked in all parts of the UK with tick-boxes for groups of floor levels.

Central heating
In 1991, separate information on the presence or absence of central heating in all or some rooms was provided. For 2001, the categories for ‘all’ and ‘some’ were combined.

Number of floors
This new question was asked in Northern Ireland only.

Tenure
In 1991, this question was combined with the question on landlord. In 2001, it was a separate question. The 2001 question included a new category: ‘Pays part rent and part mortgage (shared ownership)’, which, in the 1991 question, was grouped with the ‘buying the property through a mortgage or loan’ category. Furthermore, the category ‘Renting/rent free’ used in the 1991 question was split into two separate categories in 2001. However, in Northern Ireland these categories were not separately available in output produced on tenure. In the 2001 SARs tenure has been combined with information on landlord.

Whether rented accommodation is furnished or unfurnished
This question was asked in all parts of the UK in the 1991 Census as part of the question on landlord and tenure. In 2001, the question was only asked in Scotland.

Number of rooms
In 1991, only kitchens of at least two metres in width were to be included. In 2001, all kitchens regardless of size were included. There were other lesser differences in the wording of the instructions.

Communal questions
In 1991 the person in charge of the communal establishment was provided with a write-in box and asked to give a full description of the type of establishment and if the establishment catered for a specific group or groups, for example, mentally ill or handicapped, physically disabled, elderly, children, students, nurses. In 2001 this information was collected using two separate questions (see Census schedule).

Communal establishment registration status
This new question was asked of medical and care establishments and collected information on whether or not the establishment was registered and who with.

Communal establishment management type
This new question was asked of medical establishments. The respondent was required to tick a box indicating the type of management of the communal establishment. In 1991, this information was obtained from supplementary material provided by the Department of Health. The response to this question is combined with the response to the ‘type of communal establishment’ question to give the derived variable ‘communal establishment, combined type and management’ used in standard output.

Type of resident
In 2001 only persons who were usually resident in Communal Establishments were, in making a return, asked to indicate their status within the establishment. Such people were recorded as being: Staff/Owner; Relative of staff/owner (including ‘partner’ in Northern Ireland); or Other (for example, resident, patient, student)’. The categories into which residents in communal establishments were classified in 1991
were: Resident staff; Resident relatives of staff; and Resident non-staff.

Relationship within the household
The 1991 Census question asked for each person’s relationship to the first person listed on the Census form (who was designated ‘Head’ or ‘Joint Head’ of the household). Tick boxes were provided for: Husband or wife; Living together as a couple; Son or daughter; Other relative; and Unrelated. Write-in answers were collected for ‘Other relative’ and ‘Unrelated’.

In the 2001 Census, for households with up to five members (up to six in Northern Ireland) a matrix-style question with 11 categories of relationship was used to identify the relationship of each person in the household to every other household member. Larger households were asked to complete a continuation form for the remaining people in the household. The relationship question on the continuation form asked for relationship to the first person in the household and to the previous two people (for example, person 7 was asked the relationship to person 1, person 5 and person 6).

The full relationship matrix information is only available in the Household Controlled Access Microdata File. For the other files a variable provides the relationship of each person in the household to the household reference person.

Marital status
For 2001, an additional category was provided for ‘Separated (but still legally married)’.

Ethnic group
The 2001 questions on ethnic group in England and Wales and in Scotland were more detailed than the question asked in 1991. In 1991 there was one category for ‘White’ and no category for ‘Mixed’. In 2001 ‘White’ was split into three categories in England and Wales and into four categories in Scotland; and there were four categories of ‘Mixed’ in England and Wales and one category in Scotland.

A question on ethnic group was asked for the first time in Northern Ireland in 2001. The question was similar to the 1991 question in Great Britain but included a separate category for ‘Irish Traveller’.

Welsh/Gaelic/Irish language
For 2001, an additional category ‘Understands spoken (Welsh/Gaelic/Irish)’ was included. Furthermore, the question in 2001 asked the person ‘Can you understand, speak read or write Welsh/Gaelic/Irish’. In 1991 the question in Wales had asked ‘Does the person speak, read or write Welsh’.

Religion
Censuses in Northern Ireland have traditionally included a question on religion, but questions on religion were included for the first time in the Census in England, Wales and Scotland in 2001. There was one religion question in England and Wales, while two questions were asked in Scotland and a multipart question was asked in Northern Ireland.

In Scotland, people were asked to provide information on both their current religion and the religion they had been brought up in. In Northern Ireland, the traditional ‘current religion’ question asked in the 1991 Census, and previous Censuses, was extended to include a supplementary question on ‘religion brought up in’, only to be answered by those without a current religion. A person’s religion has been obtained solely from the response to the current religion part and the output classification includes a ‘No religion and religion not stated’ category. However, this was not split into separate categories as was the case in 1991.

Responses from the supplementary question (religion brought up in) have been combined with responses from the current religion part to derive a new output variable, Community Background. The Community Background variable records a person’s current religion, if any, or the religion brought up in for those people who do not regard themselves as currently belonging to any religion. This variable includes a ‘None’ category. Responses from the supplementary question (religion brought up in) are not available separately.

Limiting long-term illness
For 2001 the wording of the question was unchanged, except that the reference to ‘handicap’ in the 1991 question was changed to ‘disability’

General health
This was a new question for 2001 and was asked in all parts of the UK.

Provision of unpaid care
This was a new question for 2001 and was asked in all parts of the UK.

Resident status
There was no separate question in 2001 on usual address to determine area of residence as there had been in 1991. Instead, only persons usually resident at an address were required to be enumerated. Visitors at an address who were usually resident elsewhere in the UK were required to be included on the form at their usually resident address. Students and schoolchildren away from home during term-time were counted in 2001 as being usually resident at their term-time address. This differs from 1991 when they were counted as being usually resident at their home address.

Student status
There was no separate question in 1991 on student status. This information was obtained from the responses to the questions on term-time address of students and economic activity. A separate question on whether each person was in full-time education was asked in 2001.

Term-time address
In 1991, those students or schoolchildren included on the form who did not live at that address during term-time were asked to state their term-time address. In 2001, all students or schoolchildren were asked whether or not they lived at the address on the form during term-time. Full-time students with a term-time address elsewhere were not counted as resident at their vacation address and were only required to provide some basic information at that address.

Qualifications
In 1991, in England, Wales and Scotland each respondent aged 18 years or over was asked to write-in the name of any degrees or professional or vocational qualifications attained, as well as the subject, date obtained and name of the awarding institution. School level qualifications were excluded. In Northern Ireland, the question was asked of each person aged 16 and over, and there were seven tickboxes indicating different levels of qualification ranging from no formal qualifications through to degree level. There was also a write-in box for professional or vocational qualifications.

For 2001, the question consisted of simple tick-box response categories (with no write-in) covering broad groupings of school level, degree and vocational qualifications relevant to each country (and specific professional qualifications in England and Wales). No information was collected on name of institution, subject or year, and the question was applicable only to people aged 16 – 74 years.

Economic activity
In 1991, a single multi-tick question was asked to determine if someone aged 16 or over was economically active or inactive, and why. A separate tick box was included for full-time students. In Northern Ireland all full-time students were classified as economically inactive.

For 2001, a series of questions were asked of those aged 16 – 74 (including full-time students) to facilitate the derivation of statistics that will be compatible with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) definition of economic status. In contrast to 1991, information on part-time/full-time status was not an integral part of these questions.

Hours worked
In 1991, this question was only asked in Northern Ireland of all persons currently working, excluding those on government training schemes, and those who had worked in the last 10 years.

In 2001, this question was asked in all parts of the UK. In England and Wales, and Northern Ireland it was asked only of those currently working. In Scotland it was asked of all people who had ever worked.

Time since last employment
In 1991, respondents were asked to tick a box to indicate if they had worked in the last 10 years. For 2001, respondents were asked instead to write in the year that they had last worked if they had not been working in the week before the Census.

Employee/self-employed status
This question was combined with the economic activity question in 1991, but was a separate question in 2001.

Size of workforce of employing organisation at place of work
This was a new question asked throughout the UK. Information from the question is mainly used for the derivation of the new National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (NS-SeC) and the European variant of the International Standard Classification of Occupations, ISCO 88 (COM).

Occupation
The information sought about full title of main job and the description of the things done in that main job was unchanged from that in the 1991 Census, though the specific instruction given to members of the Armed Forces on how to answer in 1991 was not repeated on the form in 2001.

In 1991 information on occupation was collected from all persons aged 16 or over who were currently working (excluding those on government training schemes) and those who had worked in the last 10 years. In 2001 this information was collected from all persons aged 16 – 74 who had ever worked but only coded for those in employment at the time of the Census or since 1996. However, additional coding has been conducted for the SARs so that occupation is available for all those aged 16-64 who last worked more than 5 years ago but less than 10, and 65-74s not currently working who worked in the previous 10 years. This additional coding also applies to industry.

Supervisor status
This was a new question asked throughout the UK. Information from this question is mainly used for the derivation of NS-SeC.

Travel destination and method of travel
Respondents in Scotland were asked to provide the address travelled to either for the main job or course of study. The method of travel question related to this address. The 1991 question related only to main job. There was no change to the address of place of work question throughout the rest of the UK, other than the addition, in 2001, of a specific response tick-box to indicate that the place of work was an offshore installation.

The 2001 method of transport to work question sought essentially the same information as in 1991, except that an additional response category for ‘taxi’ was included, and that the ordering of the categories was slightly different. In Northern Ireland separate categories were provided for ‘Public service bus’ and ‘Employer’s bus’ in 1991. These were combined in 2001.

In 2001 both these questions were asked in Scotland of all persons, and in England, Wales and Northern Ireland of persons aged 16 – 74 who were currently working. In 1991 they were asked of all persons aged 16 and over who were currently working, excluding those on government training schemes.

3. 1991 Census questions not included in the 2001 Census

Water supply and domestic sewage disposal
These questions were asked in Northern Ireland in 1991, but not in 2001.

Number of children
In 1991, in Northern Ireland, all married, widowed, separated or divorced women were asked to provide details of the number of children born alive to her, and how many were born after 21 April 1990.

4. Changes in definitions

Communal establishment
In 2001, a communal establishment is defined as an establishment providing managed residential accommodation. Managed means full-time or part-time supervision of the accommodation. The definition has changed since the 1991 Census, where a communal establishment was defined as an establishment in which some form of communal catering was provided. In addition, nurses homes and student hostels etc. with self-catering facilities were enumerated as communal establishments only if there was someone in charge to take responsibility for issuing the Census forms. Otherwise, each person or group of people sharing meals or accommodation was treated as a separate household.

The rules for small hotels and guesthouses have also changed. In 2001, small hotels and guesthouses are treated as communal establishments if they have the capacity to have 10 or more guests, excluding the owner/manager and his/her family. In 1991, small hotels and guesthouses were enumerated as communal establishments if they had 10 rooms or more. Those that contained fewer than 10 rooms were classified as communal establishments if any resident staff other than the proprietor and his/her family or five or more guests were present on Census night.

The treatment of sheltered housing is unchanged from 1991. Sheltered housing is treated as a communal establishment if less than half the residents possess their own facilities for cooking. If half or more possess their own facilities for cooking (regardless of use) the whole establishment is treated as separate households.

Communal establishment resident
In 2001, the basic Household Resident (see the Glossary in chapter 5) definition applied when determining whether someone was a resident of a communal establishment. Where clarification was needed, a resident was any person who had been living, or intended to live, in the establishment for six months or more. People staying at the establishment who did not have a usual address elsewhere were also classified as a resident. Absent usual residents were asked to complete a Census form on their return to the establishment. This definition has changed since the 1991 Census, where a communal establishment resident was defined as any person who had spent six months or more in the establishment. Furthermore, in 1991 absent residents were not left Census forms for completion on their return.

Couple
A person living in a couple is defined in 2001 as a person cohabiting or living with a spouse. It is based on information from the relationship matrix. In 1991 ‘a couple’ when used was a male aged 16 and over and a female aged 16 and over, whether married to each other or not, resident in a household with no other residents aged 16 and over.

In contrast to 1991, where couples were defined as being only ‘of the opposite sex’, the algorithm used in 2001 provided for the recognition of same-sex cohabiting couples.

Country of birth groupings
In 1991 ‘Ireland (part not stated)’ was included in ‘Republic of Ireland’. In 2001 this is given as a separate category; ‘Ireland, part not specified’.

Similarly, in 1991 the ‘Isle of Man’ and ‘Channel Isles’ were included in the British Isles. In 2001 they are usually combined and given as a separate category or included in ‘Other EU countries’.

Dependent child
In 2001, a dependent child is a person aged 0 – 15 in a household (whether or not in a family) or aged 16 – 18, in full-time education and living in a family with his or her parent(s). This is a change from the 1991 definition when a dependent child was a person aged 0 – 15 in a household or a person aged 16 – 18, never married, in full-time education and economically inactive. In Northern Ireland, a dependent child was a person aged 0 – 15 in a household or a person aged 16 – 19, never married, in fulltime education and economically inactive. The revised 2001 definition has been agreed following consultation with users.

Economic activity
The definitions of some of the categories within economic activity have changed since 1991. The 2001 definition is compatible with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) definition of economic status. The main differences are:

a) Unemployed/Out of employment
In 2001 a person is defined as Unemployed if he or she is not in employment, is available to start work in the next two weeks and has either looked for work in the last four weeks or is waiting to start a new job. This is slightly different from the 1991 definition of Out of employment which included any person not currently working who was seeking work, prevented by temporary sickness from seeking work or waiting to take up a job already accepted.

b) Economically inactive: student
Though the 1991 form included a separate box for people to indicate that they were a ‘student’ in the question on activity in the week before the census, the ‘economically inactive - student’ category was created in output and included all full-time students, irrespective of their indicated economic status from other information recorded on the form. In 2001, the category includes economically inactive full-time students and part-time students who did not give any other reason for economic inactivity.

c) Unpaid work
In 1991 persons in unpaid work (other than those in a family business including a shop or farm) were included under ‘Economically Inactive: Other’. In 2001 they are included under ‘In employment’ and classified according to the person’s responses to the questions.

d) Full-time students
The 1991 question included a separate category for full-time students. All full-time students were assumed to be economically inactive and were included in the ‘Student’ category under economically inactive (see (a) above). In 2001 information on the economic status of full-time students was collected and they are classified according to that status.

Family
In 2001, the definition of a family has been extended to include a cohabiting couple of the same sex with or without child(ren). The condition that the children are ‘never married’ has been removed.

Non-dependent child
This term is used in 2001 for a child who is not a dependent child. Hence, a nondependent child is a child aged 19 or over, or a child aged 16 – 18 who is not a full-time student. In 1991 a non-dependent child was defined in Northern Ireland as a child in a family who was never married, aged 16 years or over, not in full-time education and economically active. In England, Wales and Scotland and the Northern Ireland SAS tables a non-dependent child was defined as a child who was not a dependent child.

Household Reference Person
This term is used in 2001 output instead of the term ‘head of household’ which was applied in 1991. For a person living alone, that person is clearly the Household Reference Person (HRP). If the household contains only one family (with or without ungrouped individuals) the HRP is the same as the Family Reference Person (FRP). If there is more than one family in the household, the HRP is chosen from among the FRPs using the same criteria as for choosing the FRP (economic activity, then age, then order on the form). If there is no family, the HRP is chosen from the individuals using the same criteria.

In 1991, the head of household was taken as the first person on the form unless that person
was aged under 16 or was not usually resident in the household. If one of these conditions was not met then the head of household was taken as the first person entered on the form who satisfied these criteria (or the oldest person if all usually resident persons were under 16).

Lone parent
This term is used in 2001 to describe a father or mother with his or her child(ren) where the parent does not have a spouse or partner in the household and the child(ren) do not have a spouse, partner or child in the household. It also includes a lone grandparent with his or her grandchild(ren) where there are no children in the intervening generation in the household.

The 1991 SARs were drawn from the 10 per cent output, and the definition of lone parent used information on relationship and was the same as for 2001.

Migrant
In 2001 the migrant status for children aged under one in households is determined by the migrant status of their ‘next of kin’ (defined as in order of preference, mother, father, sibling (with nearest age), other related person, Household Reference Person). Children aged under one in communal establishments are classified as having ‘no usual address’ one year ago. In 1991 children aged under one were omitted from person level migration tables.

Industry
In 2001, industry descriptions were coded to a modified version of the UK Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activities 1992 - UK SIC (92). This gives similar output to 1991 when industry descriptions were coded to a modified version of the 1980 version of this index (UK SIC 80).

Occupation
In 2001, occupation was coded to the 2000 edition of the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC). This differs substantially from the 1990 edition of the Standard Occupational Classification that was used in 1991.

Social class/socio-economic groups
The National Statistics socio-economic classification (NS-SeC) has been introduced by the Government to replace social class based on occupation (also known as the Registrar General’s Social Class) and socio-economic groups (SEG). This classification is used in 2001 outputs. Information on comparing the NS-SeC groupings with the classifications used in 1991 can be found on the National Statistics website.

Social Grade, approximated
This is a new variable introduced for 2001. Social Grade is the socio-economic classification used by the market research and marketing industries.

Shared dwelling
In 2001, a household’s accommodation (a household space) is defined as being in a shared dwelling if (a) it has accommodation type ‘part of a converted or shared house’, (b) not all the rooms (including bathroom and toilet, if any) are behind a door that only that household can use, and (c) 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. In Scotland, an additional clerical exercise was carried out to identify further shared accommodation by inspecting addresses.

The definition of an unshared dwelling was different in 1991. A household space with its own entrance to the building was said to form as unshared dwelling even if its accommodation was not self-contained. In addition, there was the concept of an ‘unattached household space’. If there was only one household space that shared an entrance to the building and was not self-contained this was not joined with other household spaces to form a shared dwelling. Instead, it was described as an unattached household space and did not form part of a dwelling.

Usual address of students and schoolchildren
Students and schoolchildren studying away from the family home are counted as being resident at their term-time address (wherever they were enumerated). The information on families, household size and household composition for their family home does not include them. In the 1991 Census, students and schoolchildren were treated as resident at their family home and were included in the corresponding counts.

Visitor
The 1991 Census population present population base included information on visitors, that is people enumerated at an address who were not usually resident at that address. This information is not available in 2001.

5. Quick Comparison

A quick comparison is available in PDF and HTML format.

6. Derived variables

We have compiled some recodes which allow comparison with equivalent information in other datasets.

The areas covered are currently:

• Country of Birth
• SOC
• NS-SEC, SEG and RGClass
• Ethnicity

Similar derived variables for the Government surveys are provided by ESDS Government.

Standard derived variables

7. Comparing 1991 and 2001 Census ethnic group data

This section is extracted from executive summary of ONS guide to comparing 1991 and 2001 Census ethnic group data. For full information see the following link.
A guide to comparing 1991 and 2001 Census ethnic group data

Introduction
An ethnic group question has been asked in two successive population Censuses. It was first asked in the 1991 Censuses in England, Scotland and Wales and was then repeated in the 2001 Census in all four countries of the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland. Differences in the ethnic group questions, coding and in the methods for treatment of under-enumeration complicate the making of direct comparisons between 1991 and 2001. This guide describes and analyses the differences and provides recommendations for users who wish to compare ethnic group data collected at the two Census points.

Ethnic group questions in 1991 and 2001
England, Wales and Scotland all asked the same ethnic group question in 1991. Northern Ireland did not include an ethnic group question in 1991. All four countries included an ethnic group question in their 2001 Census but the questions in Scotland and Northern Ireland each differed from the England and Wales question. England, Wales and Scotland increased the number of ethnic group categories, adding new White categories and Mixed categories in 2001: Scotland included four White categories and one Mixed category; England and Wales included three White categories and four Mixed categories. Northern Ireland presented one White category and one Mixed category but included a new ethnic group category for ‘Irish Traveller’.

Treatment of non-response in 1991 and 2001
It is widely accepted that no census will succeed in completely enumerating the population, and this is true of the 1991 and the 2001 censuses, where population data were adjusted to take account of the under-enumeration. However, the treatment of under-enumeration differed between the 1991 and 2001 censuses. In 1991, adjustment factors were calculated which could be applied to previously published census counts. In 2001, the One Number Census (ONC) project was designed from the beginning to enable the integration of census counts with the estimated level of under-enumeration. Households and persons estimated to have been missed by the census were imputed to produce a fully adjusted census database at the time of publication. Since rates of under-enumeration vary by ethnic group, users are advised to take account of the effect of under-enumeration when comparing 1991 and 2001 census ethnic group data.

Changes to ethnic identification
Analysis of ONS Longitudinal Study (LS) data on reporting of ethnicity by the same individuals in 1991 and 2001 in England and Wales showed that the following main ethnic groups can be reliably compared between 1991 and 2001: White, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Chinese. The Black African and Black Caribbean groups exhibit less stability between Censuses than the other main groups, but will be sufficiently stable for many comparative analyses. The ‘Other’ ethnic groups of 1991 and 2001 all exhibit very low stability and are not suitable for comparison. Analysis was also conducted using data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) in 2000/01, when respondents were asked to provide their ethnic group using the 1991 categories in the Winter 2000 wave and using the 2001 categories in the Spring 2001 wave. This indicated greater stability for all groups from one LFS wave to the next than from the 1991 to 2001 Censuses. By far the largest differences occurred for the Black African and Black Caribbean groups whose stability of self-identification was much greater between LFS waves than between the 1991 and 2001 Censuses.

Recommendations for comparing 1991 and 2001 Census ethnic groups
Users are presented with four approaches for combining ethnic group categories in order to increase the reliability of 1991 and 2001 comparisons: a ten-category classification; an eight-category classification; a five-category classification; and a two-category classification. Classifications in which more groups are combined offer greater stability, but at the cost of losing the detail of specific ethnic groups. Users are advised that consideration about which classification to adopt should take account of the balance between reliability and ethnic group detail. The decision about which classification to use will depend on the specific analysis.

Changes in ethnic group numbers between 1991 and 2001
Adjusting the 1991 Census counts of the population of England and Wales for underenumeration, and for the effects of having a smaller number of categories offered in 1991 than in 2001, alters the picture of population change by ethnic group over the decade. Adjusting for under-enumeration in 1991 reduces the percentage growth of all ethnic groups, but does so more for the ethnic groups with the highest rates of under enumeration. Some depletion from the main ethnic group categories occurs between 1991 and 2001 due to the wider range of categories presented in the 2001 Census question. This is especially through the inclusion in 2001 of the four Mixed ethnic group categories. The quantitative effects of reclassification of people to these additional ethnic groups are proportionately largest for the Black Caribbean and Black African populations.

ESDS Government Ethnicity theme page

 

Last updated 25 April 2007