UK Census 2001 logo

A nationwide census, commonly known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. A census is the procedure of acquiring information about every member of a given population The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Events 1429 - Joan of Arc arrives to relieve the Siege of Orleans. Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. This was the 20th UK Census. The United Kingdom has taken a Census of its population every ten years since 1801 with the exception of 1941 ( during the Second World War)

Census 2001 was organised by the Office for National Statistics in England and Wales, the General Register Office for Scotland and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. The Office for National Statistics (ONS is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland The General Register Office for Scotland (Oifis Choitcheann a’ Chlàraidh na h-Alba is a Non-ministerial directorate of the Scottish Government that administers The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA is an Executive Agency within the Department of Finance and Personnel in Northern Ireland. Detailed results by region, council area, ward and output area are available from their respective websites. The Office for National Statistics coding system is a hierarchical code used in the United Kingdom for tabulating Census and other statistical data

One Number Census

The results from the 2001 census were produced using a methodology known as the One Number Census. [1] This was an attempt to adjust the census counts and impute answers to allow for estimated underenumeration measured by the Census Coverage Survey (sample size 370,000 households), resulting in a single set of population estimates.

Religion

The 2001 census was the first in Great Britain to ask about the religion of respondents. A new law was passed by parliament to allow the question to be asked, and to allow the response to this question to be optional.

Welsh identity

It is sometimes claimed that Census 2001 revealed that one-third of the population of Wales described themselves as of Welsh nationality. The Welsh people ( Welsh: Cymro ("Welshman" Cymraes ("Welsh woman" Cymry ("Welshmen/women" Cymry ^[1] In fact, the 2001 census did not collect any information on nationality. Controversy surrounding the classification of ethnic group began as early as 2000, when it was revealed that respondents in Scotland and Northern Ireland would be able to check a box describing themselves as Scottish or Irish, an option not available for Welsh respondents. ^[2][3] Prior to the Census, Plaid Cymru backed a petition calling for the inclusion of a Welsh tickbox and for the National Assembly of Wales to have primary law-making powers and its own National Statistics Office. Plaid Cymru (plaɪd ˈkəmri The Party of Wales often referred to simply as Plaid) is a Political party in Wales. The National Assembly for Wales (Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru is a devolved assembly with power to make legislation in Wales. ^[2] With an absence of a Welsh tickbox, the only other tickbox available was "white-British", "Irish", or "other". ^[1][2]

Cornish identity

For the first time in a UK Census, those wishing to describe their ethnicity as Cornish were given their own code number (06) on the 2001 UK Census form, alongside those for people wishing to describe themselves as English, Welsh, Irish or Scottish. The English people (from the adjective in Englisc) are a Nation and Ethnic group native to England who predominantly speak English The Welsh people ( Welsh: Cymro ("Welshman" Cymraes ("Welsh woman" Cymry ("Welshmen/women" Cymry The Irish people ( Irish: Muintir na hÉireann, na hÉireannaigh, na Gaeil) are a Western European Ethnic group who originate The Scots people ( Scots Gaelic: Albannaich) are a Nation and an Ethnic group indigenous to Scotland. About 34,000 people in Cornwall and 3,500 people in the rest of the UK wrote on their census forms in 2001 that they considered their ethnic group to be Cornish. ^[4] This represented nearly 7% of the population of Cornwall and is therefore a significant phenomenon. ^[5] Although happy with this development, campaigners expressed reservations about the lack of publicity surrounding the issue, the lack of a clear tick-box for the Cornish option on the census and the need to deny being British in order to write "Cornish" in the field provided. British people, or Britons, are the native inhabitants of Great Britain and their descendants or citizens of the United Kingdom, of the The UK government has agreed recently that English and Welsh will have an ethnicity tick box on the Census 2011 but there will be no Cornish option tick box. The English people (from the adjective in Englisc) are a Nation and Ethnic group native to England who predominantly speak English The Welsh people ( Welsh: Cymro ("Welshman" Cymraes ("Welsh woman" Cymry ("Welshmen/women" Cymry Various Cornish organisations are campaigning for the inclusion of the Cornish tick box on the next 2011 Census. ^{[6] [7]}

See also

• Demographics of England from the 2001 United Kingdom census
• Demographics of Scotland
• Jedi census phenomenon
• List of United Kingdom censuses
• Census 2001 Ethnic Codes
• National Statistics Socio-economic Classification

References

External links

• Census 2001 website (England & Wales)
• Scotland's Census Results OnLine
• Northern Ireland Census of Population
• The Census Order 2000 (England & Wales)