March 27 was census day in the UK and because I’m in the country for longer than three months, I got to take part. It wasn’t that different than the census back home, although I did find a few sections interesting. Included in this post are the four pages I had to fill out.
If you list yourself as a full-time student, the form automatically assumes that you don’t work and gets you to skip all the detail about employment (or the government isn’t interested in the working habits of students). Given the riots that occurred over tuition raises when I first arrived in England, I think this is a big mistake. I also didn’t think there would be so many options for ‘white’ ethnic origins, given that the previous question asks about your national identity.
I was also surprised that there were questions about your general health and quality of life, but as the general population ages those questions become more important.
Also, on the front page you have to list everyone in the survey by their full name, except they only want your first and last name but not your middle name(s). Quite a few people are concerned about this, since middle names make it much easier to do research on someone. I can only imagine someone looking up their ancestor John Smith and having to go through all the entries by address to try and find the right person.
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