Mnemonic: national_identity_all
Applicability: Person
Type: Derived variable
Definition
Someone’s national identity is a self-determined assessment of their own identity, it could be the country or countries where they feel they belong or think of as home. It is not dependent on ethnic group or citizenship.
Respondents could select more than one national identity.
Classification
Total number of categories: 17
| Code | Name |
|---|---|
| 1 | British only identity |
| 2 | English only identity |
| 3 | English and British only identity |
| 4 | Welsh only identity |
| 5 | Welsh and British only identity |
| 6 | Scottish only identity |
| 7 | Scottish and British only identity |
| 8 | Northern Irish only identity |
| 9 | Northern Irish and British only identity |
| 10 | Cornish only identity |
| 11 | Cornish and British only identity |
| 12 | Any other combination of only UK identities |
| 13 | Irish only identity |
| 14 | Irish and at least one UK identity |
| 15 | Other identity only |
| 16 | Other identity and at least one UK identity |
| -8 | Does not apply* |
*Students and schoolchildren living away during term-time.
View all national identity classifications.
Quality information
The increase since the 2011 Census in people identifying as “British” and fall in people identifying as “English” may partly reflect true changes in self-perception. It is also likely to reflect that “British” replaced “English” as the first response option listed on the questionnaire in England.
Background
Read about how we developed and tested the questions for Census 2021.
Comparability with the 2011 Census
Broadly comparable
This derived variable can be generally compared with the same variable used in the 2011 Census, but there are some quality issues in the data.
What does broadly comparable mean?
A variable that is broadly comparable means that it can be generally compared with the same variable used in the 2011 Census. However, changes may have been made to the question or options that people could choose from or how write-in answers are classified.
England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland comparisons
Not comparable
The national identities included in the variable for England and Wales differ from those included in variables produced by Scotland and Northern Ireland.
What does not comparable mean?
A variable that is not comparable means that it cannot be compared for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
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:
- get the national identity dataset
- view national identity data on a map
- read about how an area has changed in 10 years
- view national identity data for an area on Nomis (an Office for National Statistics service)
Alternatively, you can also create a custom dataset.