The Office for National Statistics (ONS) was created in 1996 by the merger of the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS) and the Central Statistical Office (CSO).
The new office was created to bring together a wide range of statistical activities in one organisation.
The ONS data include information that reflects economic activity, health provision and social development across the UK. These figures still help to shape changes and improvements just as they would have done in the days of the first survey findings in the 1830s and 1840s.
