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The 2001 Census was designed to collect information on the resident population on Census Day - 29 April 2001. Copies of the Census forms used are available on the Census pages on this website.
The Census questions asked of all people covered:
sex, age (date of birth) and marital status
relationship to others in the household (where applicable)
whether schoolchild/student
whether term-time address
country of birth
ethnic group
religion - current and upbringing
health
limiting long-term illness
provision of unpaid care
address one year ago
address of place of work or study
means of travel to work or study
knowledge of Gaelic
and questions for those aged 16 to 74 also covered:
qualifications
economic activity and employment status
number of employees at place of work
year since last employed
occupation and industry of employment
hours worked
and, in addition, the person filling in the form in each household was asked about:
type of accommodation and whether self-contained
number of rooms
availability of bath/shower and toilet
lowest floor level
presence of central heating
availability of cars or vans
tenure
landlord
whether or not accommodation was rented furnished
The 1991 Census suffered from a degree of undercount (with some people and households being missed), the extent and nature of which was not identified by the 1991 Census Validation Survey. As a result, the detailed 1991 Census tables were not consistent with the final estimate of 1991 Census Day population. To avoid a similar situation following the 2001 Census, the Census itself was supplemented by the Census Coverage Survey (CCS).
The 2001 CCS was an intensive enumeration of a representative sample of postcodes in Scotland and was designed to be independent of the Census and provide the required data to estimate underenumeration. More detail on the conduct of the 2001 Census is available on this website.
The use of the methodology means that the results of the 2001 Census cover the entire population of Scotland, and are believed to be the most reliable results obtained by any Census in Scotland. However, there are a number of potential sources of error in the results. These include:
Some elements of incorrect information and biases will have been corrected during the editing process. Following this, the results have undergone an extensive quality assurance process, including checks against aggregated administrative information on particular groups such as students and the armed forces. Elements of dependency between the Census and Census Coverage Survey have been identified and corrected for, by cross-checking with alternative data sources.
Since the adjustments for underenumeration are estimates based on a sample survey, sampling errors can be used as a guide in assessing the accuracy of the adjustments. The sampling error can be used to construct a 95 per cent confidence interval - that is a range in which we can be 95 per cent confident that the true value lies. For the population of Scotland, this confidence interval is ± 0.3 per cent of the estimated population.
The Registrar General has a legal obligation not to reveal information collected in the Census about individual people and households. Protecting the Census data is of key importance and steps have been taken to safeguard confidentiality and protect against disclosure of personal information provided on the Census form. Further information is given in Scotlands Census A guide to the results and how to obtain them which is available in the Census pages of this website or by contacting Statistics Customer Services using our Contact Form.
Page last updated: 21 April 2008
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