Important information:
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Main language (detailed)

Summary

This dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify usual residents aged 3 years and over in England and Wales by their main language. The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021.

Variable and dataset information

Area type

Census 2021 statistics are published for a number of different geographies. These can be large, for example the whole of England, or small, for example an output area (OA), the lowest level of geography for which statistics are produced.

For higher levels of geography, more detailed statistics can be produced. When a lower level of geography is used, such as output areas (which have a minimum of 100 persons), the statistics produced have less detail. This is to protect the confidentiality of people and ensure that individuals or their characteristics cannot be identified.

Countries

Data for either the whole of England or Wales.

Coverage

Census 2021 statistics are published for the whole of England and Wales. However, you can choose to filter areas by:

  • country - for example, Wales
  • region - for example, London
  • local authority - for example, Cornwall
  • health area – for example, Clinical Commissioning Group
  • statistical area - for example, MSOA or LSOA

Main language (detailed)

A person's first or preferred language.

This breaks down the responses given in the write-in option "Other, write in (including British Sign Language)".

Variables

Population type
All usual residents aged 3 years and over
Area type
Countries
Coverage
England
Main language (detailed)
95 Categories
  • English (English or Welsh in Wales)
  • Welsh or Cymraeg (in England only)
  • Other UK language: Gaelic (Irish)
  • West or Central Asian language: Persian or Farsi
  • West or Central Asian language: Pashto
  • West or Central Asian language: Any other West or Central Asian language
  • Sign language: Any sign communication system
  • Other language
  • Does not apply
Show all 95 categories

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Protecting personal data

Sometimes we need to make changes to data if it is possible to identify individuals. This is known as statistical disclosure control.

In Census 2021, we:

  • swapped records (targeted record swapping), for example, if a household was likely to be identified in datasets because it has unusual characteristics, we swapped the record with a similar one from a nearby small area (very unusual households could be swapped with one in a nearby local authority)
  • added small changes to some counts (cell key perturbation), for example, we might change a count of four to a three or a five – this might make small differences between tables depending on how the data are broken down when we applied perturbation

Read more in Section 5 of our article Design for Census 2021.

Version history

Release date Reason for update
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Version superseded
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