Population and Society
Our Population and Society domain covers statistics on the size and geographic spread of the population, on the factors driving population change (including births, deaths and migration), and on people’s lifestyles and culture, including sport, language, and identity.
The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted how important it is to understand how we are living and engaging in UK society. We want to uphold public confidence in the data and statistics that we cover, particularly at this time.
We are monitoring statistics relating to COVID-19, working with producers to ensure the statistics meet the standards of the Code of Practice for Statistics, and responding to users queries and concerns on statistical matters. For more information on OSR’s work during the period of the pandemic, visit our dedicated COVID-19 page.
Our key priorities are to work to make sure that data and statistics are of sufficient quality and value to reliably support public debate and inform decision making for a wide range of stakeholders. We will aim to do this through looking at how statistics and data serve as evidence for understanding key life events and personal wellbeing, including issues of loneliness and social isolation. We will continue our assessment of the 2021 Censuses and our ongoing engagement with producers on developments and transformations to migration statistics and population estimates and projections. We will continue our engagement on the review of the DCMS sector definitions. We will also be looking at the equality and inclusion agenda, in line with wider organisational aims.
We have been working on a compliance check for the Scottish Household survey to cover two perspectives. The first is the introduction of a gender identity question to the survey in 2018 and the second is the more recent move from face-to-face interviews to an alternative means of collection given the COVID-19 pandemic. We had planned to publish the outcome of both reviews in April 2022 however we have faced some minor delays. We are working to get the outcome of our work finalised at the earliest opportunity.
We always welcome hearing from users of statistics about your experiences, your data needs and how data and statistics can be improved. If you would like to speak to us, please get in touch: Catherine Davies, Gillian Fairbairn, Claire Mokrysz, and Emma Harrison,
Planned Work
Project | Geography | Project Type | Timescale |
---|---|---|---|
2022 Census (including administrative data sources) (National Records of Scotland) | Scotland | Assessment | Continuing from 2021/22 |
2021 Census (including administrative data sources) (Office for National Statistics) | England and Wales | Assessment: Phase 2 | Continuing from 2021/22 |
2021 Census (including administrative data sources) (Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency) | Northern Ireland | Assessment: Phase 2 | Continuing from 2021/22 |
Suicide Statistics in Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency) | Northern Ireland | Compliance Check | Continuing from 2021/22 |
Population Estimates and Projections (Office for National Statistics) | England | Compliance Check | Continuing from 2021/22 |
Scottish Household Survey (Scottish Government) | Scotland | Compliance Check | Continuing from 2021/22 |
Wellbeing in Wales statistics (Welsh Government) | Wales | Assessment | Not yet started |
Northern Ireland Wellbeing statistics (Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency) | Northern Ireland | Assessment | Not yet started |
Migration statistics (Office for National Statistics) | United Kingdom | Compliance Check | Continuing from 2021/22 |
Loneliness statistics | United Kingdom | Systemic Review: Phase 2 | Continuing from 2021/22 |
Correspondence
Ed Humpherson to Will Moy: Home Office Transparency
5 May 2023
Ed Humpherson, Office for Statistics Regulation to Will Moy, Full Fact
Ed Humpherson to Liz McKeown Updated Sustainable Development Goals article
5 May 2023
Ed Humpherson, Office for Statistics Regulation to Liz McKeown, Office for National Statistics
Ed Humpherson to Nick Taylor: England and Wales Mortality Statistics produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS)
4 May 2023
Ed Humpherson, Office for Statistics Regulation to Nick Taylor, Office for National Statistics
Jen Woolford to Ed Humpherson: Assessment of 2022 Census in Scotland
19 April 2023
Jennet Woolford, Office for National Statistics to Ed Humpherson, Office for Statistics Regulation
Janet Egdell to Ed Humpherson: Assessment of 2022 Census in Scotland
5 April 2023
Janet Egdell, National Records of Scotland to Ed Humpherson, Office for Statistics Regulation
Publications
OSR’s review of excess deaths reporting
13 February 2023
Published in: Reviews
Review of Migration Statistics produced by the Office for National Statistics
1 March 2022
Published in: Reviews
Review of Loneliness Statistics
14 September 2021
Published in: Systemic Reviews
Review of population estimates and projections produced by the Office for National Statistics
10 May 2021
Published in: Reviews
COVID-19 surveillance and registered deaths data review
22 April 2020
Published in: Reviews
Assessment of 2021 Censuses in the UK – Preliminary findings
4 October 2019
Published in: Assessment Report
Compliance check: Transparency and communication of International Passenger Survey methods changes
18 October 2018
Published in:
Improving Statistics on City Regions – our evaluation of the impacts
10 July 2018
Published in: Systemic Reviews
Welsh Publication Time Exemption
22 March 2018
Published in: Exemption Request
News & Events
OSR Publishes Assessment of 2022 Census in Scotland
4 April 2023
OSR confirms the National Statistics designation of 2021 Census in England and Wales
28 June 2022
OSR is delighted to confirm the National Statistics designation of 2021 Census in Northern Ireland
24 May 2022
OSR statement on claims related to economic migrants
28 April 2022
OSR statement on statistics around refugees
30 March 2022
OSR publishes report on ONS migration statistics
1 March 2022
OSR welcomes ONS blog on COVID-19 deaths: to say only 17,000 people have died from COVID-19 is highly misleading
26 January 2022
OSR Publishes Assessment Reports for 2021 Censuses
17 November 2021
Assessment of 2021 Censuses in the UK
11 September 2020
Data and Statistics on COVID-19 impacts on the Care sector
4 June 2020