Overview
Detailed migration statistics provide the characteristics of people or households who have moved within the UK or from another country into the UK during the year before the census. People who move within or between England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland are called internal migrants. People who move from another country into the UK are called external migrants.
Changes to UK detailed migration outputs
England, Wales and Northern Ireland held their censuses in March 2021. Scotland held its census in March 2022. As a result of these two reference periods, detailed migration statistics for 2021 will be produced using census data for England, Wales, and Northern Ireland where possible. Detailed migration statistics for Scotland for the period 2022 will be published by National Records of Scotland.
We will continue to work closely with our partners National Records of Scotland and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency to harmonise our detailed migration statistics where possible.
Detailed migration datasets for Census 2021
The characteristics we plan to include in the person level detailed migration datasets are:
age and sex
family status
ethnic group and age
ethnic group and the National Statistics Socio-economic classification (NS-SeC)
NS-SeC
economic activity
long-term health problem or disability
The characteristics we plan to include in the detailed migration datasets at household level or Household Reference Person (HRP) level are:
dependent children by age of HRP
household composition
economic activity of HRP
NS-SeC of HRP
tenure
Our aim is to produce datasets from country level to the lowest level of geography possible, while still protecting people's confidentiality.
The Census 2021 detailed migration datasets and their characteristics are similar to those produced for the 2011 census. This will help people using the data to compare it between the two censuses.
Release plans
We plan to begin releasing detailed migration datasets in 2023.
More information
If you have any questions about Census 2021 detailed migration products, please email census.outputs@ons.gov.uk.