Title

National Identity by Welsh local authority

Last update

November 2023 November 2023

Next update

February 2023

Publishing organisation

Welsh Government

Source 1

Annual Population Survey, Office for National Statistics

Contact email

stats.inclusion@gov.wales

Designation

National Statistics

Lowest level of geographical disaggregation

Local authorities

Geographical coverage

Wales

Languages covered

English and Welsh

Data licensing

You may use and re-use this data free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government License - see http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence

Statistical quality

As the data come from a survey, the results are sample-based estimates and therefore subject to differing degrees of sampling variability, i.e. the true value for any measure lies in a differing range about the estimated value. This range or sampling variability increases as the detail in the data increases, for example local authority data are subject to higher variability than regional data.

These annual results refer to the period March to February each year. However, as the results from the quarterly surveys are combined with, results from additional persons sampled, they provide a more robust (boosted) dataset, with estimates subject to much lower sampling variability than the quarterly LFS.

Annual Population Survey (APS) responses are weighted to official population projections. The projections for 2020 were 2018-based, and, therefore, were based on demographic trends that pre-dated the COVID-19 pandemic.
To allow for different trends during the pandemic the responses for the APS have been reweighted on the 9 September 2021 to new populations derived using growth rates from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Real Time Information (RTI). The reweighting has been applied from year ending March 2020 data onwards and gives improved estimates of both rates and levels. The changes ONS have made to the weighting should reduce the bias of estimates at high levels of aggregation. Some smaller breakdowns may be impacted negatively and more extreme changes could be seen given the reduced size of the underlying sample since the start of the pandemic.

ONS identified issues in the new weighting in 2022. Data from the year ending March 2020 to the year ending December 2021 has been revised on 10 November 2022 to incorporate a new weighting correcting these issues.

Note: Data for 2011 Q1-3 removed due to change in questions resulting in discontinuity in the series.

General description

This dataset provides information on national identity by Welsh local authority.

Data collection and calculation

These data are taken from the ANNUAL datasets from the Annual Population Survey (APS) for 2005 onwards and the Welsh Local Labour Force Survey (WLLFS) prior to that. These surveys are carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The data for Wales are based on an enhanced sample (around 350 per cent larger) compared to earlier years. APS data are collected throughout the year and are published for calendar years. WLLFS data was published for the year ended February, each year i.e. 2001 WLLFS data relates to year ended February 2002. The data do NOT exactly match annual averages derived from the 4 QUARTERLY datasets in each year due to differences in the sampling structure.

The survey asks respondents what they consider to be their national identity. This table combines the non-Welsh groups together in order to increase the reliability of the estimates. Non-Welsh includes: English, Scottish, Irish, British and Other.
The local authority and Wales figures for 2001, 2002 and 2003 in these tables may not be the same as published elsewhere, as the numbers here are estimated using Welsh specific weights. These weights better reflect the population estimates for Welsh local authorities in these years.

Nomis is the ONS's official portal for labour market statistics. Note that some estimates from Nomis for the APS may differ slightly from those presented here due to differences in how local authority geographies are constructed.

Frequency of publication

Quarterly

Data reference periods

2001 to 2023

Rounding applied

Figures are rounded to the nearest 100 and so there may be some apparent slight discrepancies between the sum of constituent items and the totals as shown.

Revisions information

In March 2019, the Annual Population survey data has been revised back to 2012, due to taking on board the latest population estimates.

September 2019: The percentage of people who consider themselves Welsh was previously calculated as a percentage of all persons - this has now been revised so that it is based only on those who responded to the question. The data for all previous waves have been revised.

Annual Population Survey (APS) responses are weighted to official population projections. The projections for 2020 were 2018-based, and, therefore, were based on demographic trends that pre-dated the COVID-19 pandemic.

To allow for different trends during the pandemic the responses for the APS have been reweighted on the 9 September 2021 to new populations derived using growth rates from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Real Time Information (RTI). The reweighting has been applied from year ending March 2020 data onwards and gives improved estimates of both rates and levels.

ONS identified issues in the new weighting in 2022. Data from the year ending March 2020 to the year ending December 2021 has been revised on 10 November 2022 to incorporate a new weighting correcting these issues.

Revised data is marked with an (r).

Name

Econ0074