Census 2021 output geography information papers

Date published: 21 February 2023

Data Zones and Super Data Zones are newly developed statistical output geographies designed to support the release of local-level Census 2021 data.

Learn more about the new geographies

• New statistical output geographies for Northern Ireland
  Discover how Data Zones and Super Data Zones were developed to enhance local-level data reporting.
• Aggregating Data Zones for higher-level geographies
  Learn how Data Zones can be combined to approximate other Northern Ireland geographies.
• Aggregating Data Zones for new Parliamentary Constituencies
  Understand the methods and accuracy behind approximating statistics for the new constituencies.
• Census 2021 geography guidance
  Get background on output geographies, disclosure considerations, and the methodologies used for geographic approximations.

Download digital boundaries

• Data Zones
• Super Data Zones

There are 3,780 Data Zones nested within 850 Super Data Zones, which in turn nest within 80 District Electoral Areas and 11 Local Government Districts in Northern Ireland.

Available data

Person and household estimates from Census 2021 are available for:

• Data Zones
• Super Data Zones
• District Electoral Areas

Explore the data

Use the census area explorer to view person and household estimates across the new geographies.

Documents

• New statistical output geographies for Northern Ireland derived from Census 2021 Adobe PDF (7 MB)
• Aggregating Data Zones to produce statistics for higher-level geographies Adobe PDF (763 KB)
• Data Zone and Super Data Zone lookups (updated April 2025) Microsoft Excel (589 KB)
• Aggregating Data Zones to produce statistics for the new Parliamentary Constituencies Adobe PDF (377 KB)
• Census 2021 geography guidance Adobe PDF (137 KB)

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