Census 1991 - Output Areas

NRS first created Output Areas (OAs) for the 1991 Census to allow comparability with small area statistics output from 1971 and 1981. NRS used postcodes to plan 1981 Census enumeration districts and 1991 postcode based OA generally fell within 1981 ED. 1971 small area statistics were retabulated for 1981 Enumeration Districts thus provided an degree on continuity over 3 censuses.


OAs are the lowest level for which small area statistics for the 1991 Census are available. For confidentiality purposes each OA has at least 16 households and 50 usual residents. There are 38,254 Census 1991 OAs in Scotland.


Of the 38,254 1991 output areas, 38,098 have polygons, the remaining 156 are special output areas.


Revisions and Corrections

Correction to 1991 Output Area boundaries

An anomaly was discovered in the 1991 Output Area boundaries where the boundaries for Output Areas 6341DX13 and 6341DX16B were not following the postcodes that they were built up from.

Default

Identification info

Alternative title

1991 OA's
Metadata Language
English
Character set
UTF8
Dataset Reference Date (Creation)
1993-02-01
Dataset Reference Date (Publication)
1993-02-01
Identifier
www.nrscotland.gov.uk / OutputArea1991
Publisher
  National Records of Scotland - Geography Branch
General Register House, 2 Princes Street , Edinburgh , Scotland , EH1 3YY , United Kingdom
Maintenance and update frequency
As needed

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

  • Statistical units

GEMET - Concepts, version 2.4

  • census survey

  • statistical data

IPSV Subjects List

  • Censuses

  • Boundaries
Limitations on Public Access
Other restrictions
Other constraints
No limitations to public access
Use constraints
Other restrictions
Other constraints

no conditions apply
Use constraints
Other restrictions
Other constraints
Open Government Licence
Other constraints

The following statements must be used when reproducing or using this material: Copyright National Records of Scotland, contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right (insert year).
Spatial representation type
Vector
Denominator
10000
Topic category
  • Boundaries
Code
S92000003
N
S
E
W


Temporal reference

Temporal extent
Begin
1991
End
1991
 
Temporal extent
 
 
Code
EPSG:4258
Code
EPSG:27700

Distribution Information

Data format

Data format
Name Version

WMS

1.3.0

WFS

2.0.0

ESRI Shapefile

1.0
 

Transfer options

Resource Locator
Protocol Resource Locator Name

OGC:WMS

 		https://maps.gov.scot/server/services/NRS/Census1991/MapServer/WMSServer?

OutputArea1991

OGC:WFS

 		https://maps.gov.scot/server/services/NRS/Census1991/MapServer/WFSServer?

CEN1991:OutputArea1991
WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link https://webarchive.nrscotland.gov.uk/20241128122624/https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/geography/our-products/census-datasets/1991-census

National Records of Scotland website (archive)
 
 

Data quality info

Quality Scope
Dataset
Conformity
Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services
Explanation
Degree
false
Statement

NRS first created Output Areas (OAs) for the 1991 Census to allow comparability with small area statistics output from 1971 and 1981. NRS used postcodes to plan 1981 Census enumeration districts and 1991 postcode based OA generally fell within 1981 ED. 1971 small area statistics were retabulated for 1981 Enumeration Districts thus provided an degree on continuity over 3 censuses.


OAs are the lowest level for which small area statistics for the 1991 Census are available. For confidentiality purposes each OA has at least 16 households and 50 usual residents. There are 38,254 Census 1991 OAs in Scotland.


Of the 38,254 1991 output areas, 38,098 have polygons, the remaining 156 are special output areas.


For special enumeration districts (usually large communal establishments) output areas were created only if the number of usual residents met the confidentiality threshold. In such cases, household data are not provided. These special output areas do not have mapped boundaries; their position is identified by a single grid reference.


Revisions and Corrections

Correction to 1991 Output Area boundaries

An anomaly was discovered in the 1991 Output Area boundaries where the boundaries for Output Areas 6341DX13 and 6341DX16B were not following the postcodes that they were built up from.
 

Metadata

File identifier
360c6bb2-a59f-4530-aeb0-232b8ebeb5f7 XML
Metadata Language
English
Resource type
Dataset
Metadata Date
2025-02-11T13:20:40.94Z
Metadata standard name
UK GEMINI
Metadata standard version

2.3

Point of contact

Organisation name

National Records of Scotland
Position name

Geography
Delivery point

General Register House, 2 Princes Street
City

Edinburgh
Administrative area

Scotland
Postal code

EH1 3YY
Country

United Kingdom
Electronic mail address

geographycustomerservices@nrscotland.gov geographycustomerservices@nrscotland.gov.uk

Role
Point of contact
Point of contact
  National Records of Scotland - Geography
General Register House, 2 Princes Street , Edinburgh , Scotland , EH1 3YY , United Kingdom
 
 
 

Overviews

N
S
E
W


Keywords

GEMET - Concepts, version 2.4
census survey statistical data
GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0
Statistical units
IPSV Subjects List
Boundaries Censuses

Publishing Body

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Associated resources (if any)

Not available