Historic census data
Statistics and data from the very earliest census in 1801 up to that conducted in 1991, including some new releases of local information.
Censuses before 2001
A limited selection of the findings of Census data 1801-1991 is available from ONS websites.
The 1991 catalogue of products and services is a list of the reports, originally published as hardcopy volumes, which are available on National Statistics Online.
Nomis®, the National Online Manpower Information System, provides detailed tables from the 2001 Census and also some detailed data from the 1981 and 1991 Censuses. This service is run on behalf of ONS by the University of Durham.
Population counts are available for the 50 most populous urban areas (1991).
1961 Census small area statistics
The Census Historical Data Support (CHDS) Team has embarked on a series of projects to digitise historical census outputs and make them publicly available. The first of these 'statistical archaeology' projects is focused on the 1961 Census Small Area Statistics (SAS).
The 1961 SAS tables have been split into three types and will be released as a Beta in three stages. The first stage focuses on tables related to the 100% sample and is now available to view via Nomis. Please visit the ONS website for more information about this release and how to access the data.
The second and third stages will see the release of the 10% sample tables and the remaining 100% sample tables. This work is expected by Autumn 2021.
Other recourses
A vision of Britain through time is a collection of maps, data, much drawn from the census reports and other resources