General Chat

In our 2006 mini-census, the vile Conservative govt contracted out the processing of the census forms to Diebold - *in the United States* - the same firm responsible for black box voting in the US, and all that.

Those of us who objected to the whole thing, and especially to a US corporation, and especially that one, being given our private info made sure our forms would not be scannable and would have to be processed by hand, hoping to make Diebold lose interest in the contract in future because of extra expense.

What you do is fill in the blocks for name and address upside down, and then spill coffee on the last page ...

It's never totally accurate anyway.

Consider the number of people who declared their religion to be Jedhi in 2001, just for the heck of it, or students who ended up both on their parental home and on their 'Halls' or Rented house forms because the instructions were unclear.

All the questions mentioned in the OP, and more, are in the Canadian census survey and always have been. I'm not sure about number of bedrooms ... but I'm pretty sure number of bathrooms is!

It is all essential information for policy planning.

I like the religion part. I get to do my bit for upping the number of us non-believers every 5 years.

Interesting fact from our census is that Quebec, where people still overwhelmingly report that they are Roman Catholic, has the highest number of unmarried couples (including couples with children) just about anywhere in the world. ;)


Employees and managers are obviously bound by government privacy legislation, just like the people who process your tax returns and national health records ...

I don't think they use it now to check up on people any more than they used it back in 1911 and earlier to check up on people. It is just a head count - the fact that it asks seemingly personal questions is to get a handle on what mixture the population is. That mixture covers age, sex, race, education, all sorts.

I think back in the 19th century it was more useful on info like age ranges etc - to see if there were enough workhouses, hospitals and (later) schools to cover the population ... Now the info is out of date fairly quickly but it still gives that snapshot once every 10 years.

If people are worried about it they can hide, or lie, just like some of our ancestors did. I don't suppose anyone will come knocking on their doors to check it out if they did!

Jill

I think that the only people to worry, will be the ones with something to hide, like who is shacking up with who?and who shouldnt be there anyway......
wonder if it will ask how many persons are living in the loft space?

Bob

If you are in hospital, the hospital record you as a patient with your age and place of birth.
If you live alone, your house would be uninhabited on census night.

Linda, if you are an in-patient or care worker on the night of the census the hospital will fill in your details from your hospital record.My husband was working on the night of the census most times that it was taken.
Lily.

I wonder How you go about filling it in if you are in hospital on the night of the census.

How will it bother anyone,,,,,,,100 years time 99.9% on 2011 will be long gone .so what you fill in in 2011 will hardly be a big deal to future generations ,,,,,

All past census have asked how many room occupied,,,,just look at that where 3 room and 9 in a family,plus lodgers or boarders......where they all sleep in drawers>:}

I think I must be very naive because I wish there was a lot more on the census - I agree about parent's names and births - and what about place or birth of parents too!
I have had to organise the inscription for my aunt and uncle's headstone and it occurs to me how much information I want put on MY headstone so that future researches will be saved hours of time! At the very least birth and death dates and possbibly place of birth. How about having a basic family tree drawn? On the census too come to that.
There is always the enumerator so there would be no problem in writing it down!
Jill

From a personal point of view, if I were designing the next Census form, I would make sure it had a section where everyone had to fill in the names and yr of birth of their parents and grandparents.
Should save a lot of work for us genealogists, and make sure we're on the right trail. LOL

K

The number of rooms in the house is on the 1911 census. What's snooping about that? What's with all the paranoia?
Previous censuses have asked about what languages you speak, whether you can read or write, how many children have been born to the marriage and how many have died, whether there are any idiots, imbeciles or lunatics in the house!
All the info gives a good social overview of the nation on census night.

Dear All

Hello

What about employers and GP's collecting info and then passing it onto people who should not have it?

What happened to confidentiality?

I don't see what use asking about rooms in the home etc is except to spy on people.

Our ancestors were wary of taking part in the census.
Nothing has changed then!

Best wishes to all
xx

msc.... there may be no interest NOW... but future generations may be interested in their heritage.

Actually I thought that the census was filled in ....WHEREVER YOU ARE ON THE NIGHT.
Am I wrong?

ANN.... that would be a great help in letting us know a little of where we came from, I agree.
We have photographs now, but a bit more on the census may be very helpful.

Deanna X

hi kim i am the only one interested in research son dont want to no also giving it up as to many brickwalls on irish side lack of info.so gone as far as i can

msc

aren't you on a genealogy site, and am asuming researching your family history, who mainly relies on census information to further your family tree? bit contradictory if you ask me

Kim

The Republic of Ireland are now changing the question "can you read and/or write " to "what level of Education Obtained".
I really wish that Marraige certs here in Ireland would ask where Groom/Bride born (address of birth place) instead of where living at time of Marraige which they do now.Very few of my rellies were living at home when they married , and Death certs would give womans birth surname if married..
Grip over.
Lily

night of the census i wont be home problem solved wont have to fill it in.

Nothing new really,don't the local authorities already know how many bedrooms from calculating your council tax??.

Lots of people complain that immigrants disappear once they are in the country,so asking about ethnic origins would help them keep track.

shame they dont ask mothers madien name
save us lots of snooping