Ethnic group (9 categories)

Description: The ethnic group that the person completing the census feels they belong to. This could be based on their culture, family background, identity or physical appearance. Respondents could choose one out of 19 tick-box response categories, including write-in response options.

Comparability with 2011: Broadly comparable. The question about the ethnic group people feel they belong to is self-identified and is subjectively meaningful to the person answering the question. This means that how a person chooses to identify can change over time. We have included a new Roma category next to the Gypsy or Irish Traveller tick-box within the White category. We have also added a write-in option for those selecting African within the Black, Caribbean or Black British category. This means that a more specific ethnic background could be recorded.

Occupation (current) (10 categories)

Description: Classifies what people aged 16 years and over do as their main job. Their job title or details of activities they do in their job and any supervisory or management responsibilities form this classification. This information is used to code responses to an occupation using the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) 2020. It classifies people who were in employment between 15 March and 21 March 2021, by the SOC code that represents their current occupation. The lowest level of detail available is the four-digit SOC code which includes all codes in three, two and one digit SOC code levels.

Quality information: As Census 2021 was during a unique period of rapid change, take care when using this data for planning purposes.

Comparability with 2011: Not comparable. We changed the classification for Census 2021 and combined the categories previously available in the 2011 Census data.