Westminster Census Figure
In 2002-3 MORI were commissioned by Westminster City Council to make an independent estimate of the city's population as part of the council's challenge to the population figures in the 2001 Census. These calculations are not just academic, but of vital importance to councils as funding partly depends on the number of residents served. The Census, conducted by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) had found that Westminster's population was 181,000; this was 25% below the official population estimate for the previous year (245,000), but ONS considered that the new Census had merely revealed errors in the earlier estimates. MORI's survey was conducted at the end of 2002, and estimated that at that time the population of Westminster was 214,605.
