Age variable: Census 2021

Definition of age, categories, and changes since the 2011 Census for use with research and analysis using Census 2021 data.

Last updated:
26 January 2024

Mnemonic: resident_age
Applicability: Person
Type: Derived variable

Definition

A person’s age on Census Day, 21 March 2021 in England and Wales. Infants aged under 1 year are classified as 0 years of age.

Classification

Total number of categories: 101

Code Name
0 Aged under 1 year
1 Aged 1 year
2 Aged 2 years
3 Aged 3 years
4 Aged 4 years
5 Aged 5 years
6 Aged 6 years
7 Aged 7 years
8 Aged 8 years
9 Aged 9 years
10 Aged 10 years
11 Aged 11 years
12 Aged 12 years
13 Aged 13 years
14 Aged 14 years
15 Aged 15 years
16 Aged 16 years
17 Aged 17 years
18 Aged 18 years
19 Aged 19 years
20 Aged 20 years
21 Aged 21 years
22 Aged 22 years
23 Aged 23 years
24 Aged 24 years
25 Aged 25 years
26 Aged 26 years
27 Aged 27 years
28 Aged 28 years
29 Aged 29 years
30 Aged 30 years
31 Aged 31 years
32 Aged 32 years
33 Aged 33 years
34 Aged 34 years
35 Aged 35 years
36 Aged 36 years
37 Aged 37 years
38 Aged 38 years
39 Aged 39 years
40 Aged 40 years
41 Aged 41 years
42 Aged 42 years
43 Aged 43 years
44 Aged 44 years
45 Aged 45 years
46 Aged 46 years
47 Aged 47 years
48 Aged 48 years
49 Aged 49 years
50 Aged 50 years
51 Aged 51 years
52 Aged 52 years
53 Aged 53 years
54 Aged 54 years
55 Aged 55 years
56 Aged 56 years
57 Aged 57 years
58 Aged 58 years
59 Aged 59 years
60 Aged 60 years
61 Aged 61 years
62 Aged 62 years
63 Aged 63 years
64 Aged 64 years
65 Aged 65 years
66 Aged 66 years
67 Aged 67 years
68 Aged 68 years
69 Aged 69 years
70 Aged 70 years
71 Aged 71 years
72 Aged 72 years
73 Aged 73 years
74 Aged 74 years
75 Aged 75 years
76 Aged 76 years
77 Aged 77 years
78 Aged 78 years
79 Aged 79 years
80 Aged 80 years
81 Aged 81 years
82 Aged 82 years
83 Aged 83 years
84 Aged 84 years
85 Aged 85 years
86 Aged 86 years
87 Aged 87 years
88 Aged 88 years
89 Aged 89 years
90 Aged 90 years
91 Aged 91 years
92 Aged 92 years
93 Aged 93 years
94 Aged 94 years
95 Aged 95 years
96 Aged 96 years
97 Aged 97 years
98 Aged 98 years
99 Aged 99 years
100 Aged 100 years and over

View all age classifications.

Quality information

Estimates for single year of age between ages 90 and 100+ are less reliable than other ages. Estimation and adjustment at these ages was based on the age range 90+ rather than five-year age bands.

Read more in our Demography and migration quality information for Census 2021 methodology.

Background

Read about how we developed and tested the questions for Census 2021.

Comparability with the 2011 Census

Highly comparable

What does highly comparable mean?

A variable that is highly comparable means that it can be directly compared with the variable from the 2011 Census. The questions and options that people could choose from may be slightly different, for example the order of the options may be swapped around, but the data collected is the same.

England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland comparisons

Highly comparable

What does highly comparable mean?

A variable that is highly comparable means that it can be directly compared with the variable from Scotland and Northern Ireland. The questions and options that people could choose from may be slightly different, for example the order of the options may be swapped around, but the data collected is the same.

Find out more about variables produced for Census 2021 in Northern Ireland and Census 2022 in Scotland.

Census 2021 data that uses this variable

We use variables from Census 2021 data to show findings in different ways.

You can:

Alternatively, you can also create a custom dataset.

Other datasets that use this variable