The census in England and Wales has been held every ten years since 1801, except 1941; it is a count of all people and households in the country and provides population statistics from a national to neighbourhood level.
Censuses have been organised in a similar way over the years but they have not been exactly the same. This means that it is not always possible to compare the same information for different dates. The questions asked in the census include
- name, sex, age
- job, profession, trade or employment
- nationality, birthplace, race, language
- where you live and what sort of house it is
You can find information from the last census in the Information Centre, on the second floor of the Central Library.
Information about Leeds from earlier censuses is available in the Local and Family History Library, also on the second floor.
General statistics
The Information Centre also holds statistical information on a wide range of subjects, including the Annual Abstract of Statistics (from 1840 onwards), Social Trends (1970 to date) and Regional Trends (1981 to date).
The Europa World Yearbook (1959 to date) provides detailed country surveys containing the latest analytical and statistical information for. over 250 countries and territories and our Europe Direct section covers countries in the EU.