Evaluation of Non Standard Geography Population Estimates

28 May 2015

This page contains two separate reports on the accuracy of population estimates for non-standard geographical areas built up from 2011 Data Zones and 2001 Data Zones.

2011 Data Zones

This report details the work carried out in May 2015 comparing 2011 Census day population estimates built up from aggregations of 2011 Data Zones and population estimates built up from aggregations of 2011 Output Areas with population estimates aggregated from postcodes to various higher non-standard geographies. The aim of the report is to give an idea of the accuracy of population estimates built up from aggregations of small area geographies to higher level, non-standard geographies.

Population estimates were compared for:

• National Parks
• Community Health Partnerships
• UK Parliamentary Constituencies
• Scottish Parliamentary Constituencies
• Multi-member Wards
• Nomenclature of Units for Territorial Statistics (NUTS)

The 2011 Data Zone and 2011 Output Area based populations were compared with the postcode based populations (which were assumed to give most accurate fit to the higher geographies) to check the relative accuracy of populations for these areas aggregated from 2011 Data Zones and/or 2011 Output Areas.

This report is available in:

PDF Format (Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format) ( 1.04 Mb)

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An Excel spreadsheet (110 Kb) containing the data used to estimate the populations for the areas listed above is also available.

Note - Depending on your connection speed this file may take some time to download. If you experience any difficulty please contact Statistics Customer Services using our Contact us page.

This report has been produced by the Population & Migration Statistics branch of the National Records of Scotland.

2001 Data Zones

This report details the work carried out in July 2007 comparing 2001 Census day population estimates built up from aggregations of 2001 Data Zones and population estimates built up from aggregations of 2001 Output Areas with population estimates aggregated from postcodes to various higher non-standard geographies. The aim of this report is to give an idea of the accuracy of population estimates built up from aggregations of small area geographies to higher level, non-standard geographies.

Population estimates were compared for:

• National Parks
• Community Health Partnerships
• Westminster Parliamentary Constituencies
• Scottish Parliamentary Constituencies
• Multi-member Wards 

The 2001 Data Zone and 2001 Output Area based populations were compared with the postcode based populations (which were assumed to give most accurate fit to the higher geographies) to check the relative accuracy of populations for these areas aggregated from 2001 Data Zones and/or 2001 Output Areas.

This report is available in:

PDF Format (324 Kb)

An Excel spreadsheet (1.7 Mb) containing the data used to estimate the populations for the areas listed above is also available.

Note - Depending on your connection speed this file may take some time to download. If you experience any difficulty please contact Statistics Customer Services using our Contact us page.

This report has been produced by the Population & Migration Statistics branch of the National Records of Scotland.

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