Data in our collection
Our data collection includes major UK government-sponsored surveys, cross-national surveys, longitudinal studies, UK census data, international aggregate, business data, and qualitative data.
The tabs below also highlight data collections useful for students.
The UK population census is conducted every 10 years.
It is a vital resource for social scientific research and policy development, providing a snapshot of demographic and social life in the UK that helps inform government policy at local and central level.
Different types of census data are available to analyse.
Census data
All the UK Census data is suitable for new or inexperienced users.
Aggregate data: area counts, usually of individuals or households with particular characteristics for census from 1971 onwards. An example might be the number of males, aged 20-24, who are divorced and live in Devon
Flow data: migration and commuting flows from 1981 onwards. Data from the 2011 Census include information on movements between main and second addresses
Microdata: anonymised individual level records sampled from a single census. They are large individual level files which resemble the sort of data that might be collected directly from a questionnaire The UK Data Service holds contemporary data from the 1991 to 2011 Censuses and microdata samples from 1961 onwards are planned
Boundary data: digitised boundary datasets and geographic look-up tables corresponding to the census geography of the UK
Census guides
Back to top
We expect to run as normal a service as possible during this COVID-19 (Coronavirus) emergency. Please visit our COVID-19 page for the latest information.