General description

This dataset shows the number of people who were registered on the electoral roll on the date shown to vote at a Senedd Cymru election, and the number of attainers. An attainer is a person who attains the age of 18 (prior to 1 December 2020) or 16 (from 1 December 2020) during the currency of the register, and is entitled to vote at a Senedd election on or after his or her eighteenth or sixteenth birthday.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has noted that these statistics, however, do not reflect the changes to eligibility criteria for Senedd and local government elections in Wales since 2020. Consequently, local government electoral registrations for 16 year olds and 15 year old attainers, in Wales, are missing from these statistics. This also affected December 2020 electoral roll statistics that were published in May 2021. We are working with the ONS to publish corrected statistics. See the ONS website for more information (weblinks).

To make sure that the electoral register was as complete and accurate as possible ahead of the introduction of Individual Electoral Registration (IER) in summer 2014, the annual publication of electoral registers in Great Britain, normally due on 1 December 2013, was delayed until spring 2014. Electoral registers were published on 10 March 2014 in Wales.

The data are based on the Senedd constituency boundaries which came into effect at the elections on 3 May 2007 with subsequent changes as a result of local government boundary changes in seven areas under the Parliamentary Constituencies and Assembly Regions (Wales) (Amendment) Order 2011. The Order did not make the same changes to the boundaries of the Westminster parliamentary constituencies and came into effect on 14 December 2011 so from this point onwards there are some differences between the Westminster parliamentary constituencies and the Senedd constituencies. This also means that for some constituencies, the data for 2012 onwards is not consistent with data for previous years. These areas are marked in the data.

Note that entitlement to vote is different for Senedd and Westminster parliamentary elections. EU citizens resident in Wales are entitled to vote at Senedd (and local government elections) but not at Westminster Parliamentary elections, for example.

The Senedd and Election (Wales) Act 2020 made provisions to lower the voting age in Senedd Elections to 16, meaning that 16 and 17 year olds were able to vote for the first time at the Senedd Elections in 2021.

The Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021 made provisions to lower the voting age for local government elections to allow 16 and 17 year olds to vote.

This material is Crown Copyright and may be re-used (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence.

Data collection and calculation

Data are collected by local authorities as part of an annual voter canvas. The results are then collated and published by constituency area by the Office for National Statistics.

Frequency of publication

Annual

Data reference periods

Data are produced and reported annually and usually relate to the 1 December each year.

In 2012, the annual voter canvass was conducted early and the publication of the electoral roll brought forward to 16 October to allow for the Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC) elections for England and Wales held in November 2012.

To make sure that the electoral register was as complete and accurate as possible ahead of the introduction of Individual Electoral Registration (IER) in summer 2014, the annual publication of electoral registers in Great Britain, normally due on 1 December 2013, was delayed until spring 2014. Electoral registers were published on 10 March 2014 in Wales.

Electoral registers collected as at 2 March 2020 have been produced to support the Parliamentary Constituency Boundary review due to finish in July 2023.

Users, uses and context

The data are used to estimate the electoral size of each of the Senedd Cymru constituencies and to support any research that may be conducted ahead of relevant elections.

The principal users of these data will be Senedd Research in Senedd Cymru (in supporting all constituency and regional Members of the Senedd, or MS); individual MS and their researchers; Welsh Ministers and their private office staff; the media; press and policy officials in the Welsh Government; students, academics and universities; and citizens, private companies, and other interested individuals.

Rounding applied

No rounding is applied to the data.

Revisions information

Revisions to the 2016 and 2017 data were made in April 2019 as data previously showed UK Parliamentary electors. The data now shows Senedd Cymru and local government electors to be consistent with previous years.

Title

Electoral registrations by Senedd Cymru constituency areas and electoral regions

Last update

April 2022 April 2022

Next update

To be announced

Publishing organisation

Welsh Government

Source 1

UK Electoral Statistics, Office for National Statistics

Contact email

stats.popcensus@gov.wales

Designation

National Statistics

Lowest level of geographical disaggregation

Senedd Cymru constituencies

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

See weblinks

Weblinks

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/elections/electoralregistration/topicspecificmethodology' target='newtab'>https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/elections/electoralregistration/topicspecificmethodology
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/elections/electoralregistration
https://gov.wales/electoral-roll

Keywords

Electoral rolls; electoral register wales; voters; Electoral registered Statistics; Senedd Cymru elections;

Name

POPU2004