Census data is collected and published every ten years and is an invaluable source of information across a broad range of topics because every household in to country is obliged to complete the form.. A broad range of variables have been extracted from the 2011 Censuses in Great Britain. The information covers:-
- Household Composition
- Number of People Living in the Household
- Economic Activity
- Social Class
- Dwelling Type
- Housing Amenities
- Number of Rooms
- Car Ownership
All of the data is held for output areas (the smallest and most detailed unit of geography for which the data is published) but has been linked to postcodes so that the information can be overlaid onto any customer database or file by means of a simple postcode match. The database contains information stored in two formats. The first, is a series of proportions such as the proportion of people in the output area aged 0-4, or the proportion of households who are buying their home on a mortgage. The second is as a series of standardised scores which are most useful in modeling and analysis.
The results from the 2011 Census show significant changes from the 2001 Census; with an ageing population, with more people remaining single and living alone, with more households renting there home as opposed to buying, with a higher proportion of the population being born outside of the UK largely due to the expansion of the European Union, with a better educated population, and with a growing North South divide in terms of affluence and prosperity. A directory comparing the two Censuses across a broad range of varaibles is also available.
In addition the Census information has been simplified to a set of standardised factor scores which are statisitically independent of one another and can be used in a wide variety of analytic and modelling projects.