Mnemonic: english_proficiency
Applicability: Household
Type: Derived variable
Definition
How well people whose main language is not English (English or Welsh in Wales) speak English.
Classification
Total number of categories: 6
| Code | Name |
|---|---|
| 1 | Main language is English (English or Welsh in Wales) |
| 2 | Main language is not English (English or Welsh in Wales): Can speak English very well |
| 3 | Main language is not English (English or Welsh in Wales): Can speak English well |
| 4 | Main language is not English (English or Welsh in Wales): Cannot speak English well |
| 5 | Main language is not English (English or Welsh in Wales): Cannot speak English |
| -8 | Does not apply* |
*Students and schoolchildren living away during term-time, and children aged 2 years and under.
View all proficiency in English language classifications.
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
Not comparable
This variable is not comparable as the data is not available for all countries.
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:
Alternatively, you can also create a custom dataset.
Other datasets that use this variable
- Proficiency in English by age
- Proficiency in English by economic activity status
- Cornish national identity by industry by hours worked by proficiency in English
- Kashmiri ethnic group by industry by hours worked by proficiency in English
- Nepali (includes Gurkha) ethnic group by industry by hours worked by proficiency in English
- Ravidassia religion, ethnic group and both religion and ethnic group by industry by hours worked by proficiency in English
- Sikh religion, ethnic group and both religion and ethnic group by industry by hours worked by proficiency in English
- Jain religion, ethnic group and both religion and ethnic group by industry by hours worked by proficiency in English