GEOSTAT Grid: UK Population and Household Census Data for 2011

December 2011 boundaries for the GEOSTAT grid system covering the United Kingdom, produced by Eurostat. The grid contains 2011 Census data on total population, number of households, and a breakdown by sex for England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Data is provided by the Office for National Statistics under an OGL-UK-3.0 license.

Use Cases

• Aggregating statistics to equally sized geographic areas based on the grid cell boundaries.
• Mapping population density and household distribution across the UK using the 2011 Census data.
• Analyzing demographic patterns by sex for England, Wales, and Northern Ireland using the provided breakdown.
• Integrating small-area census data with other spatial datasets, noting potential projection mismatches.

Strengths

• Contains 2011 Census data on total population and number of households for the entire United Kingdom.
• Provides a sex breakdown for England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, enabling gender-specific analysis.
• Uses a standardized Pan-European grid system (GEOSTAT) for consistent spatial comparison.
• Allows publication of small counts that might have been suppressed in other releases to prevent disclosure.

Limitations

• Data is projected in ETRS 1989 LAEA and may not align with other UK datasets using British National Grid (BNG).
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Eurostat, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Office for National Statistics

Collection Method

Created by allocating postcode-level 2011 Census data to grid cells using a point-in-polygon method based on grid references.

Time Range

As at 31 December 2011.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-08 13:33:26.532905; freshness should be verified.

Geography

United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland).