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.
Revision to Census figure for Westminster confirms MORI estimate
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.
After an extensive investigation by the ONS tracking down missing households and people, revisions were made to the census estimates of population in a number of local authorities, including Westminster, where the figure was revised upwards by 17,500. Following from this, the revised ONS mid-year population estimate for 2002 (when the MORI survey was conducted), which was released in September 2004, is 214,400, only 205 different from the MORI estimate.
We are pleased that we were able to help Westminster make its case and that the ONS have come up with a very sensible package of suggestions for dealing with the very real problems involved in counting populations in these fast-changing urban areas.
- BBC News Report: "Thousands found in census review"
- Westminster News: "ONS Recognises Westminster's missing millions"
- 2001 Census: Manchester and Westminster Matching Studies Summary Report -- pdf document, 39K
- 2001 Census: Manchester and Westminster Matching Studies Full Report -- pdf document, 254K
