Census 2021: NEW Data Visualisation Tool a Must for Human Geographers

The next Census 2021 data drop is here and it’s conveniently presented in the form of a new, user-friendly and fully searchable Census Maps tool.

Earlier offerings from the ONS, which provided access to Census statistics by area (for 2001 and 2011) included Nomis which was a valuable source of quantitative data, but rather clunky to use; and wasn’t ever going to win any awards for its presentation of geographical patterns.

The new tool from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) allows you to drill right down to neighbourhood level across England and Wales (home to 100-625 people); or simply focus on Middle Layer Super Output Areas (with a population of between 5,000-15,000). The tool's appearance or data visualisation looks very similar to that of the DataShine Census site, by Oliver O’Brien and James Cheshire (in 2016), which beautifully presented the Census 2011 datasets using familiar geographical features.

Currently, you can only search for data relating to the topics of demography and migration. But this includes internal migration as well as international migration: see map below, illustrating Census 2021 results for % of people living at an address outside the UK 'one year ago' in Folkestone and Hythe in Kent. Might the new ONS tool be useful if you are currently trying to take some of the ‘heat and light’ out of discussions about UK immigration in your classroom?

Further data drops in the run up to Christmas look like they will also be super useful for A Level students focusing on human geography in their independent investigations, including:

• 29/11/22 Ethinic group, national identity, language and religion

• 8/12/22 Labour market and travel to work

Additional data releases planned for early 2023, include the Housing dataset.

The ONS’ blogpost introducing the tool is here.

The ONS’ Nomis site provides ward profiles for the 2011 Census, here.