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Census 2021 update: ward-level data and what’s coming next

30 January 2023

Today, 30 January 2023, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has added ward-level data to Census 2021 topic summaries. 

Ward-level data are data provided at geographies as low as electoral ward boundaries. You can find out more about ward geographies on the ONS website.  

You can access the topic summaries via the links below. Ward-level data is available as its own dataset within the topic summary release. Please note that ward data is not available for the sexual orientation and gender identity topic summary. 

• demography and migration
• UK armed forces veterans
• ethnic group, national identity, language, and religion
• Welsh language
• labour market and travel to work
• sexual orientation and gender identity (does not include ward data)
• education
• health, disability and unpaid care

What’s coming next?

Census 2021 phase 2 publications. This includes:

• The start of the census analysis programme which is a detailed research programme based on Census 2021
• Multivariate data, which will allow you to combine variables and explore relationships between data

We are planning Census 2021 phase 3 publications from Spring 2023. You can find out more information about our release plans on the timeline page of our website.

Recent and upcoming Census 2021 releases

The latest and upcoming census releases include:

• Gender identity: age and sex, England and Wales: 25 January
• The changing picture of long-term international migration: 27 January
• Religion by age and sex, England and Wales: 30 January
• Characteristics of UK armed forces veterans, England and Wales: Census 2021 - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) 3 February
• Disability by age, sex and deprivation: England and Wales: 8 February
• Living arrangements of people in England and Wales: Census 2021 9 February
• Unpaid care by age, sex and deprivation, England and Wales: Census 2021 13 February
• Westminster parliamentary constituencies data, England and Wales: 16 February
• NHS England and Wales health areas, England and Wales: 16 February

Please note, this list is not exhaustive, and publication dates are subject to change. You can find the most up to date information on the ONS release calendar.

Useful Census 2021 links

• Create your own Census 2021 profile for local areas with the custom area profile builder
• Access datasets and area profiles via Nomis
• Access Census 2021 dictionary (detailed information about variables, definitions and classifications to help when using Census 2021 data).
• Access Census maps (interactive map tool that visualises Census 2021 data on different topics down to a local authority area and neighbourhood level).
• How your area has changed in 10 years: Census 2021. Find out how life changed for people living in different local authority areas in England and Wales

Our downloadable resources page has products that will help you to promote the release of census results. These include editorial copy, logos and leaflets. We will update this page when each topic summary is published. Our getting support page provides guidance on how to contact Census Customer Services team, as well as links to accessible resources and British Sign Language (BSL) videos.  

Contact us

If you have any questions about Census 2021 outputs, please contact: census.customer.services@ons.gov.uk

If you have any questions, please get in touch with one of our teams:

For community partners: 2021Census.Engagement@ons.gov.uk

For local authority partners: 2021Census.LA.Liaison@ons.gov.uk

For more information, please visit ons.gov.uk/census or census.gov.uk