Census 2021

How the population changed where you live: Census 2021

How your area has changed in 10 years: Census 2021

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Facts and figures about people living in Wirral

The census is undertaken by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) every 10 years and gives us a picture of all the people and households in England and Wales.

The census asks questions about you, your household and your home. In doing so, it helps to build a detailed snapshot of our society. Information from the census helps the government and local authorities to plan and fund local services, such as education, doctors' surgeries and roads. 

Get more information about what ONS plan to publish in the first year of the analysis programme.

Get more information about the new functionality and ONS plans to release multivariate data.

Local Content

Census 2021: Population and Households in Wirral (June 2022)

Census 2021: Demography and Migration in Wirral (November 2022)

Census 2021: Ethnicity, National Identity, Language and Religion for Wirral (December 2022)

Wirral and Liverpool City Region

Demography and Migration

Education

Migration, National Identity, Language and Religion

Health and Disability

Housing

Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

The latest census was conducted in 2021, with ONS releasing data in a phased approach. 

Phase 1: 2022

Univariate data:

Population and households (28th June 2022)

Demography and migration (2nd November 2022)

UK armed forces veterans (10th November 2022)

Ethnic group, national identity, language and religion (29th November 2022)

Labour market and travel to work (8th December 2022)

Phase 2: 2023

Housing (5th January 2023)

Sexual orientation and gender identity (6th January 2023)

Education (10th January 2023)

Health, disability and unpaid care (19th January 2023)

Sexual orientation and gender identity (combining multiple variables) (4th April 2023) 

UK armed forces veterans in Wirral (LG Inform using Census 2021 data: April 2023)

Families in England and Wales: Census 2021 (May 2023)

Unpaid Carers Briefing (September 2023)

Phase 3
Alternative population bases

Alternative population bases are the different geographical locations where individuals could have been counted for Census 2021. Examples include workplace, workday and out-of-term populations.

Small populations

Small populations are groups that are defined by their cultural background, including characteristics such as ethnic group, country of birth, religion and national identity. Examples of small populations that we are committed to producing datasets about include Cornish, Kashmiri, Nepali, Sikh, Ravidassia and Jain.

Get more information about datasets we will produce and those we are considering to produce on alternative and small populations.

Detailed migration data

Detailed migration statistics provide the characteristics of people or households who have moved within the UK or from another country into the UK during the year before the census.

Get more information about the datasets the Office for National Statistics (ONS) will produce on detailed migration.

Origin-destination data or 'flow' data

Origin-destination data describes the movement of people from one location to another. Planned types of origin-destination data from Census 2021 include:

  • migration flow data
  • workplace flow data
  • second address flow data
  • student flow data

These datasets will be classified as either public, safeguard or secure. Get more details about ONS's plans, including how you can access origin-destination data.

Microdata samples

Microdata are samples of anonymised records for individuals and households, which include a selection of associated census characteristics. Microdata samples will be classified in three ways: public, safeguarded or secure.

Read more details about ONS's plans including how you can access microdata samples.

Phase 4
UK census data

Censuses took place in England and Wales, and Northern Ireland in March 2021. Scotland's census took place in March 2022. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) are working closely with UK census offices to publish comparable data from across the UK.

Get information about how ONS are working with the other UK census offices and their plans for UK census outputs.

Additional Content

Local Insight

Census data is now also available using our local insight tool.

To see the interactive maps go to Wirral Local Insight and look for Census in the Data options

LG Inform

This report provides an overview of the "Census 2021 rounded population and household estimates for local authorities in England and Wales, by sex and five-year age" as published by the Office for National Statistics, with a particular focus on Wirral.

View Wirral Report 

Local Authority Comparison Tool (Excel download)

Local authority comparison tool, letting you compare estimates for local authorities with other sources of data (Excel download)