2011 Census: People characteristics - Nationality, language and migration

Usual resident

"The main population base for outputs from the 2011 Census is the usual resident population as at

census day 27 March 2011. Although the population base for enumeration included non-UK short-term residents, this population is analysed separately and is not included in the main outputs from the 2011 Census. All outputs, unless specified, are produced using only usual residents of the UK.

For 2011 Census purposes, a usual resident of the UK is anyone who, on census day, was in the UK and had stayed or intended to stay in the UK for a period of 12 months or more, or had a permanent UK address and was outside the UK and intended to be outside the UK for less than 12 months."

Geographic information

Information about the geographic methods and principles used to produce 2011 Census results can be found at

http://ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/geography/products/census/index.html

Area codes

All areas use the nine character codes introduced from January 2011.

Frequency: Census (10 years)

5 files

Country of birth (150.02 kB)
Jan 2001 – Dec 2010
Country of birth:
Country of birth is the country in which a person was born. The country of birth question included six tick box responses - one for each of the four parts of the UK, one for the Republic of Ireland, and one for 'Elsewhere'. Where a person ticked 'Elsewhere', they were asked to write in the current name of the country in which they were born. Responses are assigned codes based on the National Statistics Country Classification.
The grouping of countries within the classification is broadly regional, but takes into account the grouping of European Union (EU) countries. Countries in the EU are grouped into those that were EU members in March 2001, and those that became members (Accession countries) between April 2001 and March 2011 as part of the EU enlargement process.
When a person's written response to the country of birth question was a former country name, and the country that it relates to no longer exists and is not wholly contained within the geographic boundary of a current country, the response was coded to one of the additional categories contained in the 'Former country' grouping. For example, ‘Czechoslovakia’ was coded to ‘Czechoslovakia not otherwise specified’.
Main language (127.77 kB)
Jan 2011
The language that is a person’s first or preferred language.
All languages which have more than 1,000 speakers across Surrey are listed separately.
Proficiency in English (66.22 kB)
Jan 2001 – Dec 2010
Proficiency in English language classifies people whose main language is not English according to their ability to speak English. A person is classified in one of the categories:
- can speak English very well
- can speak English well
- cannot speak English well, or
- cannot speak English.
Year of arrival (123.89 kB)
Jan 2001 – Dec 2010
Passports held (108.51 kB)
Jan 2001 – Dec 2010
Results for 'Passports held' classify a person according the passport or passports that they held at the time of the 2011 Census.
People where asked to indicate whether they held no passport, a United Kingdom passport, an Irish passport, or a passport from another country, and write in the name of the other country if applicable. If more than one of the options were applicable people were asked to indicate all that applied.
In results that classify people by passports held, those who hold a United Kingdom or Irish passport, and any other type of passport, will appear in each applicable category. The categories 'EU countries' and 'non-EU countries' relate to the European Union (EU) as at March 2011.