Written question WQ87009
- Asked by
- Heledd FychanPlaid
- To be answered by
- Minister for Finance and Local Government
- Tabled
- Due
- Answered
- Time to answer
- 5 days
Question
When will the projections of population and households at local authority level be updated to take account of the results of the 2021 census of population?
Answer
Answered by Minister for Finance and Local Government
The Welsh Government intends to update its population and household projections in the first half of 2024, when key data from the Office for National Statistics is expected to be available.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for producing mid-year estimates of the population and national population projections for Wales. Following the first release of Census 2021 population estimates in June, the ONS has been working to reconcile and rebase the population estimates for Wales for the years between Census 2011 and Census 2021. The rebased population estimates are provisionally planned for publication in spring 2023.
These rebased estimates will be used by the ONS to calculate new national population projections for Wales, which will take account of the latest data from Census 2021. These are provisionally planned for publication towards the end of 2023.
The Welsh Government will then use this data to update its own subnational population and household projections (for all local authorities and national parks in Wales), taking the latest Census 2021 data into account, as soon as possible afterwards.