What Do The Victorian Censuses Tell Us About The Population Of The UK?

The various Victorian censuses taken in England and Wales, and also in Scotland and Ireland always recorded the population of individual areas of each country. The very early censuses, taken between 1801 and 1831, did not give any information about individual people – it did not list by name, or occupation, or give age or relationship within the household. They did however, give an accurate population level.

So, taking the results of all the census data together, this tells us that the population of England and Wales in 1801 was 8.893 million. Scotland had a population of 1.608 million. The population of Ireland in this census was not recorded – it was first listed for 1821, when it was 6.802 million.

It is possible to track the increase in population through the different censuses so that by 1901, England and Wales had a collective population of 32.628 million, an increase of 300 per cent from 1801. The population of Scotland increased to 4.472 million. The population if Ireland fell to 4.4 million – because of the potato famine.