How the data was produced
As part of preparations for Census 2021, NISRA considered including a question on prior service in the UK Armed Forces, following the identification of user need during the 2015 Census Topic Consultation.
However, evaluation and engagement with stakeholders identified significant concerns, particularly among veterans. These related to personal safety, confidentiality, and the potential misuse of information. Evidence also suggested that including a direct question could undermine public confidence and reduce overall response rates.
In light of these concerns, NISRA decided not to include a veteran question in the census. Instead, it opted to produce related statistics by linking census data with Ministry of Defence administrative records.
Important limitations
While the linkage provides valuable insights, it has limitations. The Ministry of Defence Service Leavers Database (SLD) contains records only for personnel who left service from 1975 onwards. As a result, the linked dataset has limited coverage of veterans aged 65 years and over. Users should therefore interpret results with caution, as not all veterans in this age group will have been identified through the linkage.
Main points
- A total of 37,697 UK Armed Forces veterans were identified through the linkage of MOD administrative records with Census 2021 data.
- Those linked were predominantly male (88.6%) and were concentrated in the 50–59 age group.
- While most veterans had good (34.9%) or very good (32.8%) health, around one-third had their day-to-day activities limited to some extent by a long-term health problem or disability, and almost half had one or more long-term health conditions.
- Compared with non-veterans, veterans were more likely to have long-term health conditions relating to long-term pain or discomfort, deafness or partial hearing loss.
- Veterans were more likely than non-veterans to be economically active in the week before the census, with full-time employees accounting for the largest proportion of veterans (43.9%) and representing the largest difference with non-veterans (32.8% for non-veterans).
- Around 60.7% of veterans were in employment in the week before Census 2021. ‘Public administration, education and health’ was the most common industry of employment for these veterans.
- The most common household composition was a couple family (61.1%), while around one-fifth of veterans lived in a one-person household.
- Read the full report and access the tables
UK censuses - veterans data
- Office for National Statistics (ONS): UK Armed Forces veterans, England and Wales: Census 2021
- National Records of Scotland (NRS): Census 2022 – UK Armed Forces veterans