2001 United Kingdom census facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Census 2001
General information
Country	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Date taken	29 April 2001

This is a picture of the form used to count people in English homes during the 2001 Census.

The Census 2001 was a big count of everyone living in the UK. It happened on Sunday, April 29, 2001. This was the 20th time the UK had done a census. It found that 58,789,194 people lived here at that time.

Different groups helped organize the 2001 UK census. These included the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for England and Wales, the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) for Scotland, and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) for Northern Ireland. You can find detailed results for different areas on their websites.

How the Census Was Organized

Just like earlier UK censuses, the 2001 count was run by three main groups: ONS, GROS, and NISRA. The Office for National Statistics helped make sure everyone worked together. Special rules, called Orders in Council, were made to say who should be counted and what information to collect. These rules came from laws like the Census Act 1920 in Great Britain and the Census Act (Northern Ireland) 1969 in Northern Ireland.

Collecting the Information

The census used forms that people filled out themselves. In the three weeks before April 29, 2001, people called enumerators delivered these forms to homes. For the first time, most people sent their forms back by mail. If a form wasn't sent back, an enumerator would visit in person.

Most people sent their forms back: 88% in England and Wales, 91% in Scotland, and 92% in Northern Ireland. About 81,000 people worked to collect the census forms across the UK. The census happened during the foot-and-mouth crisis, which was a serious animal disease outbreak. Even with this problem, the census collection still worked well.

Processing the Forms

The census cost about £259 million over 13 years, from planning to getting the final results. About 30 million census forms were printed. A company called Lockheed Martin helped process the forms.

First, the forms were scanned into computers. Then, special technology read the information. If the computer couldn't read something, someone would type it in by hand. After being scanned, the paper forms were recycled. Digital copies were also saved on microfilm for future use. This information will be available to the public after 100 years. The statistics agencies then checked the data to make sure it was correct and filled in any missing parts.

Counting Everyone Accurately

The goal of the census is to count everyone. The census groups estimated that 94% of people in England and Wales, 96.1% in Scotland, and 95.2% in Northern Ireland were included in the forms. Some people were missed because:

• Some homes didn't send back their forms.
• Some homes didn't include everyone living there.
• Some addresses were not on the list used by the census.

For example, in Manchester, about 25,000 people were missed because the address list was old. The area with the lowest number of people counted was Kensington and Chelsea in London, with only 64% of people counted. Even with these issues, the final results still aimed to represent 100% of the population. This was done by finding people missed by the forms and using information from a follow-up survey.

The One Number Census Method

The 2001 census used a special method called the "One Number Census." This method helped to make the count more accurate. It involved:

• Adjusting the numbers to include people who might have been missed.
• Filling in missing answers.

This was done by comparing the census results with a separate survey called the Census Coverage Survey. This survey checked 320,000 homes. The goal was to create one single, accurate estimate of the population.

Religion in the Census

The 2001 census was the first time people in Great Britain were asked about their religion on the main census form. Before this, in 1851, there was a separate, optional sheet for religion. A new law, the Census (Amendment) Act 2000, was passed to allow this question. Answering the religion question was optional.

This new question led to the Jedi census phenomenon. Many people, especially young people, jokingly wrote "Jedi" as their religion. In England and Wales, 390,127 people said they were Jedi. In Scotland, 14,052 people did the same!

Here's how people answered the religion question:

• Christian: 72.0%
• Muslim: 3%
• Hindu: 1%
• Sikh: 0.6%
• Jewish: 0.5%
• Buddhist: 0.3%
• Any other religion: 0.3%
• 15% said they had no religion. This group included the Jedi (0.7%), which was more than those who said they were Sikh, Jewish, or Buddhist.
• 8% did not answer the question.

Ethnicity in the Census

The census also asked about people's ethnic group. This helps us understand the different backgrounds of people living in the UK.

Ethnic Groups and Results

The census forms had different choices for ethnic groups. These included:

• White (like White British, White Irish, or Other White)
• Mixed (like White and Black Caribbean, White and Black African, White and Asian, or Other Mixed)
• Asian or Asian British (like Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, or Other Asian)
• Black or Black British (like Black Caribbean, African, or Other Black)
• Chinese or Other Ethnic Group

Here is a table showing the population for each ethnic group:

People could also write in their own ethnic group under the "other" heading. For example, many people wrote in Filipino, Japanese, Vietnamese, or Arab.

English Identity

There was some discussion about how ethnic groups were listed, especially for people who felt English. In 2000, it was found that people in Scotland and Northern Ireland could check a box saying they were Scottish or Irish. But there was no specific box for "English."

If you were English, you could only choose "white-British," "Irish," or "other." If you wrote "English" under "any other white background," it wasn't clear if it would be counted the same way as "Welsh." Because of this, "English" was added as a tick-box option in the next census in 2011.

Welsh Identity

Similarly, there was discussion about a specific tick-box for Welsh identity. Some people thought the 2001 census showed that two-thirds of people in Wales said they were Welsh. However, the census didn't ask about nationality.

Before the census, a political party called Plaid Cymru asked for a "Welsh" tick-box. They also wanted the National Assembly for Wales to have more power and its own statistics office. Without a "Welsh" box, people could only choose "white-British," "Irish," or "other."

Cornish Identity

For the first time in a UK census, people who felt Cornish could write this as their ethnic group. They even had their own special code number (06). This was alongside options for English, Welsh, Irish, or Scottish.

About 34,000 people in Cornwall and 3,500 people in the rest of the UK wrote "Cornish" on their forms in 2001. This was almost 7% of the population of Cornwall. Many Cornish groups wanted the "Cornish" tick-box to be included again in the 2011 census.

See also

In Spanish: Censo del Reino Unido de 2001 para niños

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