Age of the Household Reference Person variable: Census 2021

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

Last updated:
28 November 2023

Mnemonic: hrp_age
Applicability: Person
Type: Derived variable

Definition

Age of the Household Reference Person (HRP) on Census Day, 21 March 2021 in England and Wales.

Classification

Total number of categories: 4

Code Name
1 Household Reference Person: Aged 24 years and under
2 Household Reference Person: Aged 25 to 49 years
3 Household Reference Person: Aged 50 years and over
-8 Does not apply*

*People not living in households.

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

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

Census 2021 data that uses this variable