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Official publications and statistics - UK: Official statistics - UK

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Sources of statistics

Here are the main starting points for official statistics relating to the UK:

The "UK’s largest independent producer of official statistics and its recognised national statistical institute." Statistics can be found in several ways - search by keyword, or browse by topic or by date of release. To find a specific publication by title, enter the title as a phrase in quotation marks in the keywords search box.

The main starting point for statistics available from across government.  You can filter the complete list by searching for keyword(s), or by choosing a Topic or Organisation from the drop-down lists, or by restricting to a specific date range (Updated). Unfortunately, it is not easy to find a specific publication by title - you could try using a search engine instead and enter the title as a phrase in quotation marks.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each produce their own official statistics to complement those available via the ONS or GOV.UK:

Search by keyword or date range, or browse by topic. There is also a link to statistics.gov.scot where you can search or browse by keyword (subject), organisation or place name (area).

The list can be filtered by keyword, topic, organisation or date.

Browse statistics by topic, or filter a list of publications by keyword or publication date.

A wide range of datasets is also available via the following:

A large collection of economic, social and population data. Registration may be required before you can access specific datasets - see the Help pages for more information.

Access to open data published by central government, local authorities and public bodies.

 

Introduction

This page gives a brief introduction to the range of statistics which is available on the internet, and also refers to some of the print sources held in the University Library.

In addition, an appropriate search on a good search engine, for example “oil tankers” accidents statistics, may be useful in quickly finding needed statistics.

If you are looking specifically for historical statistics, many of the websites mentioned on this page can provide access to statistics going back one or two decades or more. Older statistics may be available in printed form in the University Library, and can be traced through Library Search. Compilations of historical statistics can be traced by searching for "historical statistics" as a phrase.

Remember that you can also ask for help from library staff if you are having difficulty finding what you need – but please be aware that we too may have to spend some time searching before we can give you an answer.

UK censuses

Census statistics help paint a picture of each nation and provide a detailed snapshot of the population and its characteristics.  Separate censuses are taken for England & Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, usually every ten years.  The links below will take you to the websites for each census, from where you can access the relevant statistics.

Access to the data from the 2021 census, and how to find data from previous censuses.

Data from the 2022 census will start to be released during 2023; there is also information about how to search historic census data.

Access to the data from the 2021 census, and how to find data from the 2011 census and pre-2011 censuses.

Provides online access to the complete British population reports for Britain and Ireland from 1801 to 1937.

Printed reports are held by the University Library covering England & Wales (up to 2001) and Scotland (up to 1991):

Note: The census returns relating to individual people and households are closed for 100 years. For details of what is available and how to access it, see the Census records page on The National Archives website.