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Thirty Years of Geographical (In)consistency in the British Population Census: Steps towards the Harmonisation of Small‐Area Census Geography
Author(s) -
Walford Nigel S.,
Hayles Kelly N.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
population, space and place
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.398
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1544-8452
pISSN - 1544-8444
DOI - 10.1002/psp.658
Subject(s) - census , geography , population , weighting , population statistics , regional science , cartography , census tract , boundary (topology) , statistics , demography , mathematics , sociology , medicine , mathematical analysis , radiology
The existence of digital boundary data files to accompany area census statistics for small units has now become accepted as the norm in respect of population census output in many countries. However, there has been growing variation in the specification of census geography and widespread inconsistency in the sets of polygons between the constituent countries of the UK. This paper reports on research that has created data sets of consistent areas and estimates of census counts spanning the last four British censuses from 1971 to 2001 to enable the comparison of small spatial units and the analysis of population change. The paper assesses the data sets produced by areal weighting and dasymetric mapping by comparison with a subset of consistent spatial units between 1981 and 1991 and with published statistics for larger areas. The results are also examined in relation to previously published methods of obtaining weights empirically for use in the dasymetric mapping. The paper highlights the potential of the consistent small spatial units that have been created for the analysis of population change over time. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.