Internal migration in the 2021/22 Census

What questions were asked on Internal migration?

The census asks people where they lived one year ago, the same address, a student address, the address in the UK or the country if outside the UK.  In Scotland people are also asked whether they lived at the same address as the first person completing the return and/or the same address.  The example below is from the Scottish census question.

How do the questions transfer to variables and tables?

The response is used to derive the variable where someone lived one year ago – the same address, a student address, somewhere else in the UK or outside the UK.  It will also be available as a geographical zone in the flow data release to support analysis of patterns of internal migration.

How does it compare to previous censuses?

The same information is available.

What impact might the COVID pandemic have had on Internal migration?

There is some evidence of higher rates of internal migration, particularly out of urban areas during the pandemic. The extent to which this pattern is sustained will be able to be better understood when the mid-year 2022 population estimates are released.

Variables

Table 1 – MIGRANT_IND_5A

Code Description
0 Address one year ago is the same as the address of enumeration
1 Address one year ago is student term-time or boarding school address in the UK
2 Migrant from within the UK: Address one year ago was in the UK
3 Migrant from outside the UK: Address one year ago was outside the UK
-8 Does not apply