User Needs for Migration Information from the 2011 Census

User Needs for Migration Information from the 2011 Census

Purpose

This paper invites users to consider their needs for information on migration from the 2011 Census. The following migration topics are discussed:

• Address one year ago;
• Country of birth;
• Citizenship/Nationality
• Year of arrival in the UK (for those born overseas); and
• Other migration-related topics

Introduction

Migration is a topic of increasing importance and interest:

• Improving estimation of migration, both internal and international, is essential for improving estimation of the population. Migration, particularly international migration, is the most difficult component of population change to estimate.
• As the mobility of the population has increased, both within the UK and internationally, migration has accounted for an increasing proportion of population change and is now the main driver of population growth.
• Migration has been identified as a key research topic across Government. The impacts and outcomes of migration are of major policy interest, for example asylum seekers in the late 1990s, and more recently migrants from EU accession countries.

The 2001 Census, and previous censuses, included two questions that identify migrants:

• Usual address one year ago identifies internal migrants and international in-migrants in the previous year (see question 14 of 2001 Census questionnaire); and
• Country of birth identifies all international migrants born overseas (see question 7 of 2001 Census questionnaire).

Following the consultation exercise on user requirements for the 2011 Census (see http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/consultations/2011Census_response.asp), the indication is that both of these questions are likely to again be included in the 2011 Census.

Given the increasing importance of migration, the inclusion of additional questions on migration is being considered for the 2011 Census. The recent consultation exercise identified user interest in a number of possible questions, and the National Statistics Quality Review (NSQR) on International Migration Statistics (see http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/data/methodology/quality/reviews/population.asp) recommended that new questions on migration be introduced for future censuses. In addition, the current Inter-Departmental Taskforce on Migration (see http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/data/methodology/specific/population/future/imps/updates/downloads/Inter-departmental_Task_Force_on_Migration_Statistics.pdf) has recognised the importance of the Census and the need to ensure the correct questions on migration are included.

Considerations

The following issues need to be considered in order to arrive at an achievable set of recommendations for the migration topics to be included in the 2011 Census:

• there is limited space on the census form, thus inclusion of additional questions might lead to pressure to omit other questions – it is therefore essential that the relative importance of each topic within the migration set is considered;
• the power of the Census is in (i) measuring characteristics of small populations and (ii) measuring data down to low geographical levels; if neither of these is required, is an alternative method of data collection more appropriate?
• Are there likely to be sensibility or comprehensibility issues in asking for information from the whole population?

Discussion of topics

In the remainder of this paper, we outline some issues related to each of the Census topics under consideration. Under each, some key questions are included to provide a framework for responding, but please do not feel constrained to only commenting on these points.

1. Address one year ago

This question has been included in past censuses and identifies both internal migrants and international in-migrants in the previous year. This question will also be included in the 2007 Census Test.

Q1How have you used information from the 2001 Census on address one year ago? Did analysis relate to internal migrants, international migrants, or both?

Q2Did you experience any problems in analysing the address one year ago information from the 2001 Census?

Q3Do you consider any other migration topics to be a higher priority in 2011 than address one year ago?

2. Country of birth

This question has also been included in past censuses and identifies those persons born overseas, collecting information at individual country level. This question will also be included in the 2007 Census Test.

Q4How have you used information from the 2001 Census on country of birth? Was the information used as a proxy for other information?

Q5Did you experience any problems in analysing the country of birth information from the 2001 Census?

Q6Do you consider any other migration topics to be a higher priority in 2011 than country of birth?

3. Citizenship/Nationality

A question on citizenship/nationality has not been included in recent UK censuses, and will not be included in the 2007 Census Test. However, ONS plan to develop a self-completion question on citizenship/nationality for possible inclusion in the 2009 Census Rehearsal over the next few months.

The NSQR on International Migration Statistics recommended that a question on citizenship/nationality be included in future censuses. Internationally, citizenship/nationality is a key dimension when considering both the stock and flow of migrants. Country of birth is not necessarily a good proxy for citizenship/nationality (ONS are currently investigating the relationship between the two variables). The LFS already collects information on nationality, but it is not possible to produce reliable estimates for individual nationalities and at lower geographical levels from this source.

Q7How would you use information from the 2011 Census on citizenship/ nationality were it to be collected?

Q8Would you require information by individual country of citizenship, or for broad citizenship groupings? If the latter, please specify.

Q9Would you require information on citizenship/nationality to be collected from the whole population, or just those born overseas? Please state why.

Q10Do you consider it important to be able to differentiate between British citizens and citizens of the Irish Republic?

Q11Do you consider any other migration topics to be a higher priority in 2011 than citizenship/nationality? In particular, would you consider citizenship/nationality to be a higher or lower priority than country of birth?

4. Date of Arrival in the UK

A question on date of arrival in the UK for those born overseas has not been included in recent UK censuses. A question on year and month of most recent arrival will, however, be included in the 2007 Census Test.

The NSQR on International Migration Statistics recommended that a question on year of (last) entry to the UK (for those born outside the UK) be included in future censuses. Such a question would allow reconciliation of stock and flow estimates of migration; at present it is not possible to put the foreign-born population as measured by the Census into context in terms of whether someone born outside the UK has been resident in the UK for 2 years or 20 years - it is only possible to identify those who have been resident for less than 1 year via the 'usual address one year ago' question. Year of entry to the UK is asked in the LFS, but due to sample size, the extent to which these data can reliably be used in the reconciliation of migration stock and flow estimates is limited, particularly at the local level.

For those persons who have arrived in the UK in the previous year, month of arrival could also be usefully collected, together with intended further length of stay. This would allow shorter-term migrants such as temporary foreign workers, who consider themselves to be usually resident in the UK but are not currently included in inter-censal estimates of the population, to be identified. The current Inter-Departmental Taskforce on Migration has highlighted the importance of obtaining accurate information on short-term migrants for local areas.

Q12How would you use information from the 2011 Census on year/month of arrival were it to be collected?

Q13Do you consider it important to also collect intended length of further stay in the UK for those arriving within the last year? If yes, how would you use this information?

Q14Do you consider any other migration topics to be a higher priority in 2011 than year/month of arrival in the UK?

5. Other possible migration-related topics

In addition to the four topics discussed above, a number of other migration-related topics were considered in the main census consultation exercise in 2005. These included:

• Place of birth

• Country(ies) of parents’ birth;
• Change of country of usual residence (i.e. whether a person has ever been usually resident abroad in the past, for example, the Census in the Republic of Ireland asks ‘Have you lived outside the Republic of Ireland for a continuous period of one year or more?’)
• Country of previous usual residence (for those ever previously resident overseas); and
• Asylum or immigration status

Given responses to the main consultation exercise, these topics are not currently being actively considered for inclusion in 2011.

Q15Do you consider any of the above topics, or any other migration-related topics, to be a high priority for collection in 2011? If yes, how would you use this information were it to be available?

Annex A: Template for Responses