This dataset combines historical electoral roll and linked consumer register data (on surnames, forenames and locations) from 1997 onwards, with a special aggregated metric derived from ONS data* which lists the most frequently selected second-level ethnicity category for most common forenames and surnames - see the section 'What is the recommended ethnic group question for use on a survey in England?' at https://www.ons.gov.uk/methodology/classificationsandstandards/measuring...

The data is aggregated to local authority districts (LAD) as defined in 2021 and separately for 2023, and is supplied as Open data, available for direct download. For more spatially detailed data (at LSOA level), this available on application, please see the Related Content link below for further details. There is also a link to a Data Profile PDF which is for the LSOA version but contains information relevant to this Open dataset, such as notes on quality, representation and bias, and upstream data sources.

Aggregated ethnicity categories used are (with codes used in the data files):

• WBR - White: British (including English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish)
• WIR - White: Irish
• WAO - White: Any Other
• ABD - Asian/Asian British: Bangladeshi
• ACN - Asian/Asian British: Chinese
• AIN - Asian/Asian British: Indian
• APK - Asian/Asian British: Pakistani
• AAO - Asian/Asian British: Any Other
• BAF - Black/Black British: African
• BCA - Black/Black British: Caribbean
• OXX - Any Other Ethnic Group (including Mixed; Black/Black British: Any Other; Arab; All Other Ethnicities; &c.)

Users of this dataset should be mindful that this is data on ethnicity categories and not one showing migration, citizenship, nationality or country of origin.

The roll/registers have been linked together, allowing inferring and cleaning to take place, in order to provide population continuity and result in a smoother, higher quality temporal dataset.

*The data was derived as part of a ESRC-funded project 'Ethnicity Estimator' - Virtual Microdata Laboratory project number: 0000013. It is a diagnostic table resulting from the application of CDRC algorithms. The aggregate data was provided by ONS within the VML.

Please note: this dataset supersedes and enhances the previous version of CDRC Modelled Ethnicity Proportions (1997-2020). The older version remains available upon request for research reproducibility purposes.