Other passport held (write-in response) variable: Census 2021

Mnemonic: other_passport_held
Applicability: Person
Type: Standard variable

Definition

Other passport held (write-in response)

Classification

Total number of categories: 211

*Students and schoolchildren living away during term-time, people who did not have a passport, and people who only held a UK or Irish passport or both.

Quality information

Only the first country written in “Other passport” was taken.

Read more in our Demography and migration quality information for Census 2021 methodology.

Question asked

What passports do you hold?

• United Kingdom
• Ireland
• Other, write in OR none

The question and options that people could choose from were the same in Census 2021 and the 2011 Census.

Background

Read about how we developed and tested the questions for Census 2021.

Why we ask the question

The answer helps local and central government understand more about the citizens of other countries living in England and Wales.

The information helps local authorities to understand how communities are made up and which services people have access to. They will use it to plan things like housing, education, social services and healthcare in their area.

Local authorities can use this information to understand more about the movement of people in their area now and in the future. They can then assess which services the area may need and the cost of them.

The census first asked this question in 2011.

Comparability with the 2011 Census

Broadly comparable

We have changed some categories to make them more consistent with country classifications used in other national statistics.

What does broadly comparable mean?

A variable that is broadly comparable means that it can be generally compared with the same variable used in the 2011 Census. However, changes may have been made to the question or options that people could choose from or how write-in answers are classified.

England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland comparisons

Find out more about variables produced for Census 2021 in Northern Ireland and Census 2022 in Scotland.