Neighbourhood Statistics includes summary results on all main topics from the 2001 Census as part of information provided to support regeneration. The service was relaunched in April 2005 with new and improved features. The Access Small Areas newsletter gives details of updated neighbourhood profiles with a greater regeneration focus and new facilities to customise areas, charts, maps and tables.

These notes set out the steps to view Census figures for named places, through reference maps, and for specific topics. The maps are also an accessible way of seeing the boundaries of areas used in 2001 Census output on large scale Ordnance Survey bases. There is general guidance accessible from the Neighbourhood Statistics home page and throughout the site with information about downloading, changing selected areas and tables, and on the full functionality of the site.

The Neighbourhood Statistics website is not fully compatible with some browsers. The home page will show a link to more information in these cases. In particular it may not be possible to view Census reference maps, but similar maps are viewable on Nomis.

Go to a named place and a pre-selected profile
Neighbourhood Statistics provides statistical profiles, containing a mix of Census and other figures with a regeneration focus, for a neighbourhood around any postcode and many place names, or exact figures for areas in various geographical hierarchies.

• for a profile enter a place name or postcode in the search box in [Neighbourhood profile] on the home page
• a place name gives a profile of the local authority in which it lies, with a map of the authority (a pop up window allows choice of local authority if a place name is duplicated)
• a postcode gives a profile of a lower level Super Output Area (SOA), not named but shown on a map (the smaller Output Areas (OAs) are shown, but Profiles are not available for them - see 'locate results through a map' below to get figures for OAs)
• there are tabs to open six broad topic areas, each SOA has comparative figures for its ward, local authority, and region, and for England and Wales.

Go to a named place and select topic

• click [topics] on the home page
• open 2001 Census in the list of datasets, open Census Area Statistics and/or Key Statistics
• the data are either counts from the Census Area Statistics (CAS) which give detailed categories within a topic, and are known as 'univariate' tables (and have a 'UV' prefix), or Key Statistics (with a 'KS' prefix)
• the Key Statistics are split into two lists - 'key regeneration related statistics' and 'others' - figures for related topics may appear in both parts
• the list of Key Statistics shows data for 'amalgamated parishes' (download only) which relate to a limited number of parishes with small populations [more details...]
• choose table
  select 'view' (download provides a dataset for England and Wales)
  select from 'geography area type options' (the (i) buttons give details, but '2003 administrative areas' provides figures for OAs, wards, and local authorities)
  a table for the UK is presented, drill down through table by clicking on region, local authority, and so on to view area required, with table - use (i) button to see map of any area

Tips on maps


• maps show only one boundary set (with the exception of the SOA maps which show OAs ) overlaid on Ordnance Survey base maps
• maps may open at small scale, use zoom to increase scale, new maps always centre on midpoint of previous map, use combination of zoom and pan to move to precise locations
• codes for SOAs and OAs show at larger scales.

Locate results through maps

Neighbourhood Statistics provides functionality to choose an area and see Census figures through 'browsing' reference maps.

• click [Customised tables, charts and maps] on the home page
select 'use a map to select...'
select from 'geography area type options' (the (i) buttons give details, but '2003 administrative areas' provides figures for OAs, wards, and local authorities)
in the three step window

1. select a boundary set from drop down menu
2. enter name or postcode -> click on name or postcode in pop up window - map of area appears (see tips on maps above)
3. select area by clicking on map (an additional facility in this view)
select topic, opening 2001 Census in the list of datasets.

Select an area from a list

• click [Customised tables, charts and maps] on the home page

select 'select one or several ready made areas...'
select a list of areas
open list and select area(s)
select topic, opening 2001 Census in the list of datasets

Select a topic

Neighbourhood Statistics contains summary figures on all the main topics covered by the 2001 Census

• click [topics] on the home page


• either search on a topic such as "age" which will produce a list of datasets (see below)
• or open the lists of '2001' datasets directly
• the data are either counts from the Census Area Statistics (CAS) which give detailed categories within a topic, and are known as 'univariate' tables (and have a 'UV' prefix), or Key Statistics (with a 'KS' prefix)
• the Key Statistics are split into two lists - 'key regeneration related statistics' and 'others' - figures for related topics may appear in both parts
• the list of KS shows data for 'amalgamated parishes' (download only) which relate to a limited number of parishes with small populations [more details...]

select 'view' (download provides a dataset for England and Wales)
select from 'geography area type options' (the (i) buttons give details, but '2003 administrative areas' provides figures for OAs, wards, and local authorities)
a table for the UK is presented, drill down through table by clicking on region, local authority, and so on to view area required, with table

• use (i) button to see map of any area (see tips above)

This page last revised: 13 March 2006