FOI reference: FOI-2025-2525
You asked
I am researching regionalism and nationalism in the UK and require information from the 2011 and 2021 censuses on the following:
Number of people who chose a write in option for the nationality box relating to an identity more commonly identified as a regional identity, e.g., Yorkshire, Devon/Devonian, Scouse etc. and broken down by number for each.
We said
Thank you for your freedom of information request.
Write-in answer boxes and search-as-you-type functions meant everyone could answer census questions as they wished for Census 2021. For all the identity questions, people could select one of the tick-box options or write in their answer -- making census more inclusive than ever before.
We have published census data on everyone in England and Wales. Everyone's write-in answers are included in our statistics but not every write-in answer is published because write-in counts are not population estimates. Write-in counts do not represent the number or proportion of the population as a whole who identify with that national identity or religion, etc.
The following link provides analysis on the national identity of usual residents in England and Wales: National identity, England and Wales: Census 2021.
Unfortunately, it is not possible for us to produce the data requested. When census forms are processed, write-in answers such as 'scouse' or 'Yorkshire' were coded as 'English'. Therefore, the datasets that we hold, which are used to run statistical analysis, do not have the level of detail requested.