Britain's statistics
 

Do you believe them - given there was a large number of households missing from the 2011 census.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/l...nations-past1/

Do you think the 2021 will be any more accurate and what will it tell us if it goes ahead in March 2021.

I am referring to Australia here, but I am sure the same applies to the UK. Many people take great delight in putting false, or "funny", information in the census returns.
And that is on top of the usual crowd with something to hide.

Censuses are vital for family history of course!

But not sure how much use they are in planning. When I worked in a primary school we were told the pupil roll was falling and one of the local primaries would be closed. That never happened and in fact 3 of the primaries had to double their capacity! Mostly due to influxes of people from London seeking lower property prices.

With COVID more people will elect to work from home if they can, which will change demand for transport etc. But that wasn't foreseen either.

Years ago I read that the true purpose of census was to calculate how many men there were of fighting age!

OC

As WW1 medical inspections showed, being of fighting age didn't mean you were fit for fighting. I look at WW1 records of my rellies and they have chest measurements my size and smaller! One of them had a leg affected by polio, they weren't exactly muscle-bound.

Nell

Indeed. The politicians were very taken aback to discover the poor state of the nation's health. It hadn't mattered much before WW1 - if you could stand up unaided, you were fit to fight.

Yet another example of the uselessness of statistics, lol. Still, I am glad they bothered.

OC