area statistics

There are two sets of area statistics available from the 1991 Census of Population. Small Area Statistics (SAS) are a set of 86 tables (with circa 9,000 counts) available for 155,180 small areas in the UK. Local Base Statistics (LBS) are a set of 99 tables (with circa 20,000 counts) for 10,933 wards/sectors in GB. SAS and LBS are also available for larger areas and other geographies. SAS data are available for the 1981 Census and the 1971 Census.

Area statistics from the 1991 and 1981 Censuses are available on-line: see http://census.ac.uk/.

To register for access, contact The Census Dissemination Unit for 1991 SAS/LBS, The Data Archive for 1971 and 1981 SAS.

An example of use: see A New Social Atlas of Britain (Wiley, Chichester, 1995) by Daniel Dorling (Bristol), which paints a picture of change in Britain between 1971 and 1991 using innovative maps. This atlas is the essential starting point for researchers using census data for the first time.