The Big Picture
Census 2001 - benchmark for the 21st Century

Coverage: United Kingdom

The population of the United Kingdom grew steadily over the last decade of the 20th Century to stand at 58,789,194 on Census Day 2001. This is an increase of 2.4 per cent (just under 1.5 million people) since 1991.

Today the next instalment from the rich repository of new information from the Census is revealed.

The Census paints a big picture of society and is a benchmark at the start of the 21st Century. It also reflects the great variety and changes that have taken place in the society in the latter part of the 20th Century.

It is a complex rather than a simple picture. Ideas of divisions between north and south or town and country hide the contrasting ways that people experience life in each area of the country.

While the population as a whole is ageing and growth in numbers is greatest in the south and east, Census 2001 shows that local communities, often only a short journey apart, have dramatically different experiences, lifestyles and identities. Correspondingly different demands are made on governments, neighbours and families for health care, work, housing and other services.

For example, there have been big changes in family structures. The proportion of one family households containing a married couple, the traditional norm for past generations, now represent around 45 per cent of all households (this comprises married couples plus one-family all-pensioner households many of whom will be married) compared with 55 per cent in 1991 and 64 per cent in 1981.

While in some places such as East Dorset and South Staffordshire the proportion approaches six in ten households, in much of Inner London it is now less than one in four.

Across the UK one-person households now make up 30.3 per cent (7.4 million) of the total - up from 26.3 per cent in 1991. Lone-parent households with dependent children make up 6.0 per cent (1.5 million) compared to 5.2 per cent in 1991 and there are a further 3.7 per cent lone-parent households where only grown-up children are present.

More than half of households in the City of London contain only one person and almost half in Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea. Lone parent households make up one in six of the total in Knowsley and Liverpool.

Looking just at people, half of all adults (23.9 million) are married or have re-married but single (never married) adults now make up nearly one in three (30.2 per cent) compared with 26.3 per cent in 1991.

Divorced and separated people now account for nearly 5 million adults (10.5 per cent) and widowed people 8.4 per cent.

Some of the other highlights are:

• Just under one in ten households in England and Wales are lone-parent (9.6 per cent) and More than nine out of ten lone-parent households are headed by a woman. Twenty-two per cent of all households where there are dependent children are lone-parent households.
• Almost a third of households contain dependent children and one in nine have children under-five.
• One in six households with dependent children has no working adults.
• Nearly a quarter of all households consist of pensioners only.
• Of all-pensioner households 61 per cent are single person and 38 per cent are a couple or family. The remainder contained people not all of whom are a couple.

Substantial variation in experience of family life in each locality is also reflected in personal experience. Nowhere is this more noticeable than in experiences of poor health.

In Easington in County Durham, Merthyr Tydfil, Neath Port Talbot and Blaenau Gwent over half of all households contained someone with a limiting long-standing illness. By contrast such evidence of poor health is more rare in many parts of southern England.

Areas reporting high levels of poor health are also those where people provide the most unpaid care to family members, neighbours or others. A new question asked in Census 2001 reveals that across England and Wales over 5 million people provided unpaid care and as many as 1 million provided care 50 or more hours each week - more than a full time job.

Diversity in our communities is also reflected in the range of national, ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds. Such diversity is not to be found everywhere. Across the north east and south west of England and in Wales over 95 per cent of people are white and describe themselves as British, English, Welsh or Scottish. In some local areas the proportion approaches 99 per cent.

Elsewhere the sense in which people of widely differing backgrounds live in neighbouring communities is best illustrated by London. In Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster over 10 per cent of the usual residents were born in the European Union but outside the United Kingdom. In Brent and Newham over one third were born outside the European Union.

People from different ethnic and religious backgrounds can be found in quite different numbers in close by areas. Some 36 per cent of the population of Tower Hamlets are Muslim compared with 4 per cent in Greenwich.

Twenty per cent are Hindu in Harrow and less than 1 per cent in Hackney. Fifteen per cent report themselves as Jewish in Barnet compared with less than 1 per cent in Hillingdon. Nine per cent of the population of Hounslow are Sikh compared with less than 1 per cent in Brent.

Among ethnic groups, black or black British people with a cultural background from the Caribbean are found in greatest numbers in Lewisham and Lambeth at 12 per cent but those of African background are found in greatest numbers, some 16 per cent in Southwark.

Less than six per cent of people had a religious affiliation other than Christian. These include 3 per cent Muslims, 1 per cent Hindu and about one half a per cent each Sikh and Jewish.

For the first time people were able to describe themselves as of 'mixed' ethnicity. The strongest response to this tended to be from areas with already well-established minority ethnic group communities.

Background Notes

1. Dependent children are those under 16, or are aged 16-18, studying full-time and living in a family with one or both parents.

2. All-pensioner households are those which consist entirely of men aged 65 and over, and women aged 60 and over.

3. Census day was 29 April 2001. Census data give a snapshot picture of the country at this time. Population counts by age and sex for England and Wales, Wales, regions of England and English and Welsh local authorities were published on 30 September 2002.

4. The Office for National Statistics is responsible for the census in England and Wales. The Census in Scotland and in Northern Ireland is carried out by the General Register Office for Scotland and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency respectively. Census data for Scotland and Northern Ireland are released separately.

5. Detailed Census results published today are mainly for England and Wales and its regions and local authorities. Individual press releases are available for Wales and each of the nine English Government Office Regions: North West, North East, Yorkshire and the Humber, West Midlands, East Midlands, South West, South East, London and the East. Press releases covering six key Census topic areas are also issued today: Ethnicity and religion, Families, Health, Households, People and places, Work. Census data published today are available free on the National Statistics website: www.statistics.gov.uk/census/

6. Further releases of Census data will take place through Spring and Summer 2003. In March/April there will be cross-tabulated data, followed by data down to small area/ward level. In the summer will begin a series of multi-source topic reports which draw upon other sources in addition to census to provide detailed pictures of specific topics and areas.

7. Details of the policy governing the release of new data are available from the press office.

8. National Statistics are produced to high professional standards set out in the National Statistics Code of Practice. They undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs. They are produced free from any political interference. © Crown copyright 2003.