School of GeographyFACULTY OF EARTH & ENVIRONMENT

Where do you come from? The changing nature of questions about migration in UK Censuses

Oliver Duke-Williams

School of Geography, University of Leeds

o.w.duke-williams@leeds.ac.uk

Paper presented at the Remaking Migration Theory conference

Brighton, 13-14 May 2009

Where do you come from?

• Questions about migration and mobility in the Census

• Questions in the 2011 Census

• Will they help to break down binary views?

• Will the results be worthwhile?

Census questions

British / UK Censuses have asked various questions about migration and other aspects of mobility

• Direct questions about recent migration

• Questions about lifetime migration

• Implicit questions about ‘others’

• Questions about temporary migration and shorter term mobility

A history of questions about migration

• First British Census in 1801

• 1801-1831 Censuses simple aggregate head counts

• 1841 Census first to have household schedule

• Specific questions to be answered for all individuals

• Questions about or related to migration asked in all Censuses from 1841 onwards

The Victorian Censuses

• 1841 Census: two questions about migration

• “Whether born in same county?”

• “Whether born in Scotland, Ireland or Foreign Parts?”

• 1851 Census: one question about migration

• “Where born?”

• Similar questions posed in subsequent 19th century Censuses

Victorian Censuses

• Reservations about data quality

• Respondents in different parts of Britain were given different instructions about how to answer

• More information gathered in England and Wales than elsewhere

• The questions established some information about migration within Britain over a person’s lifetime

Source: Ravenstein, 1885

Birthplace

• Questions about place of birth have continued to be asked in all UK Censuses

• For recent Censuses, these are reported with varying levels of detail at all geographies down to small area level

Direct questions about recent migration

• The current ‘migration question’ in the Census considers recent migration as opposed to lifetime migration

• The question was first included in the 1961 Census, and has been retained with minor changes in wording since then

• The 1971 Census additionally included a 5-year transition question

“What was your usual address one year ago?”

Direct question – answers

• For those who were not at the same address one year prior to the Census most are prompted to write in an address

• A few ‘special cases’ have been recognised with tick-box options

• Aged under one

• No fixed address (2001)

• This covers a significant number of people, but is poorly defined

• Mean proportion of migrants who had no fixed address: 6.6%

• Range at Local Authority level is from 3.4% (Richmondshire) to 14.2% (Newham)

Questions about ‘otherness’

• Questions about nationality

• All Censuses 1841 to 1961

• Questions about parent’s nationality

• 1971, separate answers for mother and father

• Questions about religion and ethnic group

Census questions about ethnicity

• Question about ethnic group first included in 1991 Census

• Question asks about both skin colour and region or country of ‘origin’

• White

• Black-Caribbean

• Black-African

• Black-Other

• Indian

• Pakistani

• Bangladeshi

• Chinese

• Other

Ethnicity: 2001

• The ethnicity question was revised in 2001

• Major categories remain the same, although wording changed

• “Black” changed to “Black or Black British”

• Introduction of additional major category, “Mixed”

• White category subdivided

Questions about religion

• Religion question used in 1851; debate over interpretation of results

• No further use until 2001

• 1920 Census Act specifically prevented inclusion of religion

• Amended for 2001 Census

• Considerable debate over question wording

• Religion is the only optional question on the Census form

2001 debates

Both the ethnicity and religion questions prompted significant media interest and concerted campaigns

• Campaign for boycott in Wales

• Viral campaign for Jedi religion

Percentage of population reporting ‘Jedi’ religion, 2001: England and Wales, Local and Unitary Authorities

Quartiles: 0.2% min, 2.6% max

Source: ONS: www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=297

Temporary and shorter term mobility

• Inclusion of students a major issue for interpretation of results and analysis of change over time

• 1991 – students included at parental home

• 2001 – students included at place of study

• Journeys to place of work and to place of study (Scotland)

• Provides a ‘ghost’ of under-explored area of patterns of weekly commuting etc

2011 Census

Next census to take place on March 27 2011

• Not one census, but three

• First post 9/11 Census in UK

• Will include a number of new questions, including questions relating to migration

Migration in the 2011 Census

• Direct one-year migration question to be included as usual

• New questions

• Date of entry to the UK

• Length of intended stay

Date of entry to the UK

• Year and month of most recent entry to the UK

• 1971 Census included a similar question

• Year of first entry

• Results not included in 1971 Small Area Statistics

• Longitudinal Study includes results

• ‘Strong relationship between errors and year of entry’

• Error in interpretation of ‘first entry’

Length of intended stay

“Including the length of time already spent here, how long do you intend to stay in the United Kingdom?”

• Less than 6 months

• 6 to 12 months

• More than 12 months

• No precedent in Census for this question

• Not planned in Scotland

• Subjective and complex

• Doubts over data quality

Citizenship and ethnicity

New or revised questions about citizenship, national identity and ethnicity

• Citizenship: “Which passports do you hold?”

• New question

• Multiple answers allowed

• National identity: “How would you describe your national identity?”

• English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish, British, Other (write in)

• Multiple answers allowed

• Language spoken

• New general question; specific previous questions in Wales, Scotland etc

2011 ethnicity

• Ethnicity question again revised

• Expansion of white groups

• Change of Chinese in major groups

• Explicit inclusion of Arab ethnicity

Second residences

• Specific questions about second residences

• Different approaches tested in England and Wales and Scotland

• Question dropped in Scotland

Second residences

• Do you stay at another address for more than 30 days per year?”

• Tick reason

• Armed Forces base

• Another address when working away from home

• Student’s home or address

• Another parent or guardian’s address

• Holiday home

• Other

Second residences: Scotland

• Different structure in Scottish tests

• Give other address and reason

• Further questions about time spent there

• How many days a week?

• How many weeks a year?

2011 Census

Are the questions worthwhile?

• What will the data quality be like?

• What will we be able to do with the results?

• Will analysis of the questions promote less dichotomous views of migration?

Data quality

Direct migration question

• Same question as in previous years

• Inherent data quality will be the same

• Usefulness in practice subject to output policies

Data quality

Date of entry

• 1971 experience suggests poor response quality

• Question may be hard to answer; target group more likely to have limited English language skills

• Could be replaced with more general ‘when did you move to your current address?’

• Would apply to all people

Data quality

Length of intended stay

• Subjective; answer may change

• Intrusive

• Target group may have more reason than others to be suspicious of question intentions

• Surveillance of migrants

• Legal implications

• May be question-specific response problems

• May affect overall response quality

Data quality

Citizenship, national identity and ethnicity

• Citizenship problems for children?

• Difficulties of national identity classification

• New treatment of Arab ethnicity may cause suspicion in conjunction with other questions

Data quality

Second residences

• Many reasons for having a second residence

• Impossible to frame time-related questions that work

• Real opportunity to expand ideas of internal migration, and relationships between migration and commuting

• Only applies to limited sub-population

• Output data has risk of being unusable

Comparison to other countries

Country Transition period

Date of entry

Intention to stay

Second residences

Other

Ireland 2006 1 year - - - Have you lived outside Ireland?

New Zealand 2006 1 year

5 years

First entry - - How long at this address?

Australia 2006 5 years First entry - -

Canada 2006

(Long form)

1 year

5 years

Yes (permanent

entry)

- -

USA 2000

(Long form)

5 years First entry

+ when gained citizenship

- -

Conclusions

• Migration data are important to frame debates, although they tend towards binary structures

• Census is best source of small area data

• 2011 will see new questions

• Questions on second residences will allow better analysis of several facets of migration

• Question about intention to stay is poor and may harm overall response

School of GeographyFACULTY OF EARTH & ENVIRONMENT

Oliver Duke-Williams

School of Geography, University of Leeds

o.w.duke-williams@leeds.ac.uk