resources | census

This page provides a summary of UK census, their dates and publication status. Links at the foot of the page offer more information.

A full list of all census in the UK. All publications are subject to the 100 year rule.

Census	Date	Comments
1801	Tuesday, 10 March	Now published - but limited [2]
1811	Monday, 27 May	Now published - but limited [2]
1821	Monday, 28 May	Now published - but limited [2]
1831	Monday, 30 May	Now published - but limited [2]
1841	Sunday, 6 June	Now published - but limited [2]
1851	Sunday, 30 March	Now published
1861	Sunday, 7 April	Now published
1871	Sunday, 2 April	Now published
1881	Sunday, 3 April	Now published
1891	Sunday, 5 April	Now published
1901	Sunday, 31 March	Now published
1911	Sunday, 2 April	Now published - the first to be completed by the occupants [Head of household]
1921	Sunday, 19 June	Now published - this will be the last census publication for 30 years [except for Scotland]
1931	Sunday, 26 April	All, but Scotland, records destroyed in a fire.
1939	Friday, 29 September	Strictly NOT a census. An inventory of people at the start of WWII. Published in 2015 but people less than 100 year old [in 2006?] are redacted.
1941		No census due to WWII
1951	Sunday 8 April
1961	Sunday 23 April
1966	24 April	Subset [10%] Census
1971	Sunday 25 April
1981	Sunday 5 April
1991	Sunday, 21 April
2001	Sunday, 29 April
2011	Sunday, 27 March
2021	Sunday, 21 March

While coordinated the execution has always been undertaken by the separate nations of the UK [E&W, S & NI].
The early census records [until 1851] are sparse and not wholly reliable. More recent census are verbose.

Date of last access	Source
23 Sept 2021	National Archives Guide to Census Records
23 Sept 2021	FreeCEN - UK - free census research tool
20 Feb 2022	FindMyPast - PAID FOR census research tool
20 Feb 2022	Scotlands People - PAID FOR census research tool