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UK gridded population at 1 km resolution for 2021 based on Census 2021/2022 and Land Cover Map 2021

This dataset contains gridded human population with a spatial resolution of 1 km x 1 km for the UK based on Census 2021 (Census 2022 for Scotland) and Land Cover Map 2021 input data. Data on population distribution for the United Kingdom is available from statistical offices in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland and provided to the public e.g. via the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Population data is typically provided in tabular form or, based on a range of different geographical units, in file types for geographical information systems (GIS), for instance as ESRI Shapefiles. The geographical units reflect administrative boundaries at different levels of detail, from Devolved Administration to Output Areas (OA), wards or intermediate geographies. While the presentation of data on the level of these geographical units is useful for statistical purposes, accounting for spatial variability for instance of environmental determinants of public health requires a more spatially homogeneous population distribution. For this purpose, the dataset presented here combines 2021/2022 UK Census population data on Output Area level with Land Cover Map 2021 land-use classes 'urban' and 'suburban' to create a consistent and comprehensive gridded population data product at 1 km x 1 km spatial resolution. The mapping product is based on British National Grid (OSGB36 datum). Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/7beefde9-c520-4ddf-897a-0167e8918595

Simple

Date (Publication)
2025-02-26
Identifier
https://catalogue.ceh.ac.uk/id/7beefde9-c520-4ddf-897a-0167e8918595
Identifier
doi: / 10.5285/7beefde9-c520-4ddf-897a-0167e8918595
Other citation details
Carnell, E., Tomlinson, S.J., Reis, S. (2025). UK gridded population at 1 km resolution for 2021 based on Census 2021/2022 and Land Cover Map 2021. NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre 10.5285/7beefde9-c520-4ddf-897a-0167e8918595
Author
  UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology - Carnell, E.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0870-1955
Author
  UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology - Tomlinson, S.J.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3237-7596
Author
  UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology - Reis, S.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2428-8320
Custodian
  NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre
Point of contact
  UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology - Carnell, E.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0870-1955
Publisher
  NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre
Owner
  UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0
  • Population Distribution - Demography
Access constraints
otherRestrictions Other restrictions
Other constraints
no limitations
Use constraints
otherRestrictions Other restrictions
Other constraints
This resource is available under the terms of the Open Government Licence
Use constraints
otherRestrictions Other restrictions
Other constraints
If you reuse this data, you should cite: Carnell, E., Tomlinson, S.J., Reis, S. (2025). UK gridded population at 1 km resolution for 2021 based on Census 2021/2022 and Land Cover Map 2021. NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre https://doi.org/10.5285/7beefde9-c520-4ddf-897a-0167e8918595
Spatial representation type
grid Grid
Distance
1000  urn:ogc:def:uom:EPSG::9001
Metadata language
EnglishEnglish
Character set
utf8 UTF8
Topic category
  • Society
Begin date
2021-01-01
End date
2022-12-31
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Unique resource identifier
OSGB 1936 / British National Grid
Distribution format
  • TIFF ()

Distributor
  NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre
OnLine resource
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Supporting information

Supporting information available to assist in re-use of this dataset

Hierarchy level
dataset Dataset
Other
dataset

Conformance result

Date (Publication)
2010-12-08
Statement
Census data from the Office of National Statistics, National Records for Scotland and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency have been downloaded as CSV/Excel files. Land Cover Map 2021 raster data has been obtained from UKCEH. Output Area (/Data Zone) geography data (Extent of the Realm), were obtained for England & Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. The processing steps are detailed in the Supporting Documentation. To ensure consistency of the final product, total population numbers were compared, at each processing step, with the official 2021/2022 Census totals. As a result, the final output file is consistent with the Census total population for the UK in 2021.
File identifier
7beefde9-c520-4ddf-897a-0167e8918595 XML
Metadata language
EnglishEnglish
Character set
ISO/IEC 8859-1 (also known as Latin 1) 8859 Part 1
Hierarchy level
dataset Dataset
Hierarchy level name
dataset
Date stamp
2025-11-13T16:16:11
Metadata standard name
UK GEMINI
Metadata standard version
2.3
Point of contact
  NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre
Lancaster Environment Centre, Library Avenue, Bailrigg , Lancaster , LA1 4AP , UK
https://eidc.ac.uk/
 
 

Overviews

Spatial extent

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Keywords

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0
Population Distribution - Demography

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