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Census Records up to 1911

What is the Census?

A Census is taken every 10 years by the government and records everyone who is present in a particular house on a given night. It records the population of the country as a whole and gives the government and other organisations statistics which are used to identify future planning needs.

Census records in one form or another have been taken by kings, empires and governments for thousands of years and the word 'census' originates from the Latin word 'censere' which means estimate. This word is perfect to describe the Census, especially in the early years as they were not always 100% accurate. The Romans used the census to raise taxes and this tax raising aspect may explain why some people have traditionally been suspicious of them. The very first Scottish Census was carried out by Alexander Webster in 1755 and the UK government has taken Census records every 10 years since 1801 with the exception of 1941. A transcript of Webster's analysis of population 1755 is published on the General Register Office for Scotland's website by kind permission of the Scottish History Society.

What Census Records are available?

Census entry featuring a young Arthur Conan Doyle, who went on to become an acclaimed writer

At the ScotlandsPeople Centre you can access the indexes and images of the Census records from 1841 to 1911. The 1911 census was released on Tuesday 5 April 2011. This census details information collected from more than 4.7 million Scots - marking a century since the data was first gathered.

The records include the name, address, age, occupation, birthplace and marital status of everyone counted in the 1911 census, as well as details about their children. For the first time, the census data is presented in full colour rather than black and white

The censuses taken after 1911 will remain confidential and unavailable for public examination. In line with the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, the 1921 Census will be available during the summer of 2021 once the current 100 year closure period has elapsed.

The 1911 census is only available in electronic format through the ScotlandsPeople centre or at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

Pre-1841 Census

Very few records relating to the pre-1841 Censuses survive but there are photocopies and transcripts of some early censuses and population lists in the library. This guide, Surviving Pre-1841 Census Records in Scotland provides details of original records held by the Scottish local archives and the National Records of Scotland as well as digital copies and published transcripts which are available to researchers in the Historical Search Room and the ScotlandsPeople Centre Library.