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.

Electoral wards and divisions

Areas used to elect local authority councillors.

The data are for wards as at May 2022, apart from two instances.

We treat the City of London and the Isles of Scilly local authorities as single wards, not made up of multiple wards.

We have also split the data for Hunmanby and Sherburn ward into Hunmanby and Sherburn (part Ryedale) and Hunmanby and Sherburn (part Scarborough). This is to reflect that the ward is split between two local authorities, Ryedale and Scarborough.

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

Ethnic Group (detailed)

The ethnic group that the person completing the census feels they belong to. This could be based on their culture, family background, identity or physical appearance.

Respondents could choose one out of 19 tick-box response categories, including write-in response options.