Every ten years since 1801 – save for a wartime interruption in 1941 – the UK government has conducted a national census of England and Wales. This is a big event. The data collated in the last survey, in 2021, is still being published, with final reports only scheduled for 2025. Yet, doubts have emerged about whether the next one – in 2031 – will actually take place.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is currently preparing recommendations on the back of a public consultation about the future of population and migration statistics in England and Wales, conducted over four months in 2023. Scholars have expressed concern that the government intends to scrap the census altogether, in favour of using other, administrative sources of population data.
