UK Census

From Freepedia

The United Kingdom has taken a census of its population every ten years since 1801, with the exception of 1941. In addition to providing a wealth of interesting information about aspects of the make-up of the country, the results of the census plays an important part in the calculation of resource allocation to regional and local service providers, by national and European government.

Contents

History

In the 7th century, Dalriada (now Scotland) was the first territory in what is now the UK to conduct a census, with what was called the "Tradition of the Men of Alba" (Senchus fer n-Alban). England took its first Census when the Domesday Book was compiled in 1086 for tax purposes.

The UK census as we know it today started in 1801 (championed by John Rickman who managed the first four up to 1831), partly to ascertain the number of men able to fight in the Napoleonic wars. Rickman's 12 reasons - set out in 1798 and repeated in Parliamentary debates - for conducting a UK census included the following justifications:

  • 'the intimate knowledge of any country must form the rational basis of legislation and diplomacy'
  • 'an industrious population is the basic power and resource of any nation, and therefore its size needs to be known'
  • 'the number of men who were required for conscription to the militia in different areas should reflect the area's population'
  • 'there were defence reasons for wanting to know the number of seamen'
  • 'the need to plan the production of corn and thus to know the number of people who had to be fed'
  • 'a census would indicate the Government's intention to promote the public good' and
  • 'the life insurance industry would be stimulated by the results.'

The census has been conducted every ten years since 1801 and most recently in 2001 (see United Kingdom Census 2001). The first four censuses (1801-1831) were mainly statistical (that is, they were mainly headcounts and contained virtually no personal information). The 1841 Census was the first to record names of all individuals in a household or institution.

Because of World War II, there was no census in 1941. However, following the passage into law (on 5 September 1939) of the National Registration Act a population count was carried out on 29 September 1939, which was, in effect, a census.

Availability

The census is undertaken by the government for policy and planning purposes, and the (statistical) information is also sold to interested parties. Public access to the census returns is restricted under the terms of the 100-year rule and the most recent returns made available to researchers are those of the 1901 Census.

In January 2002, the much-anticipated British census for 1901 went online. Within minutes it was inaccessible because of server and network load, and it had to be taken offline. Later in the year, after upgrades had been made, it came back online. (See: flash crowd)

Accuracy

The census is usually very accurate, and with a fine of up to £1,000 for those who do not complete it, filled in by a high percentage of the population. An exception may have been the census conducted during the years of the poll tax (1991), when some people avoided it in case it was used for enforcing the tax.

2001

The 2001 census was the first year in which the government asked about religion. Perhaps encouraged by a chain letter that started in New Zealand, 390,000 people entered their religion as Jedi Knight (more than either Sikhs, Buddhists or Jews), with some areas registering up to 2.6% of people as Jedi. (See: Jedi census phenomenon)

See also

External links

Retrieved from "http://en.freepedia.org/UK_Census.html"


Views
Personal tools
Similar Links