The Census collects information every ten years about the characteristics of people and households in the country. It is used by central and local government, health authorities and many other organisations to allocate resources and plan services for everyone.
Planning for the 2011 Census is already underway with a series of consultations and a rehearsal which will take place in 2009 with around 50,000 households.
Most statistics from the 2001 Census are available on our Scotland's Census Results OnLine (SCROL) website.
Products from the 1991 Census are still available.
Earlier Censuses
Censuses contain useful information for family historians, and people interested in Scotland's social history. The statistical reports from the Censuses from 1801 to 1931 are available on the Histpop - The Online Historical Population Reports website. Census records about individual people are left confidential for 100 years to protect privacy. Access to older Census records is described on our ScotlandsPeople website.
Page last updated: 21 April 2008
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