Housing in Wales (Census 2021)

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has published Census 2021 data on housing, communal establishments and people with second addresses in three separate bulletins.

• Housing, England and Wales: Census 2021
• Communal establishment residents: Census 2021
• People with second addresses: Census 2021

This statistical bulletin contains summaries of these three topic areas for Wales. It provides information on accommodation types (including communal establishments) and tenure; number of rooms, bedrooms and occupancy rating; types of central heating; car and van availability and type of second addresses for households and residents in Wales from Census 2021.

Data on the number and type of dwellings will be published during ONS’s Phase 2 of releases.

Housing in Wales

• On Census Day, 21 March 2021, 87.2% (1.2 million) of households lived in a house or bungalow, 12.5% (168,000) lived in a flat, maisonette or apartment and 0.3% (4,000) lived in a caravan, or other mobile or temporary structure. The proportions of households in different types of accommodation were the same across the decade from 2011 to 2021.
• In 2021, 66.4% (894,000) of households owned their accommodation, 33.5% (451,000) of households rented their accommodation and 0.2% (2,000) of households lived rent free. 
• In 2021, 7.6% (103,000) of households in Wales had one bedroom, 23.8% (321,000) had two bedrooms, 48.0% (646,000) had three bedrooms and the remaining 20.6% (277,000) had four or more bedrooms.  The proportion of households with one, two, or three bedrooms decreased across the past decade from 80.9% in 2011 to 79.4% in 2021, whereas the proportion with four or more bedrooms increased from 19.1% in 2011 to 20.6% in 2021.
• In Wales, 2.2% (30,000) of households had fewer bedrooms than required. 21.4% (289,000) of households met the required standard for bedrooms and 76.4% (1.0 million) of households had more bedrooms than required.  The proportion of households with fewer bedrooms than required decreased over the decade, from 2.9% (38,000) in 2011 to 2.2% (30,000) of households in 2021.
• Almost all households reported that they had central heating (98.8%, 1.3 million) and 1.1% (14,000) of households used at least one renewable energy source.
• Almost a fifth of households in Wales had no cars or vans and two-fifths of households had one car or van.  Compared to 2011, there was a proportionate increase in households with more than one car or van.

Communal establishment residents

• In 2021, there were 56,000 communal establishment residents in Wales (1.8% of all usual residents), an increase from 52,000 residents in 2011 (1.7% of all usual residents). 
• Almost half (45.7%) of communal establishment residents were aged 16 to 24 years, and a further 17.0% were aged 85 years and above. In total, 50.9% of communal establishment residents were female and 49.1% were male. 
• More than three quarters of communal establishment residents were in educational (24,000, 43.6%) or care home establishments (20,000, 35.1%). 7.5% (4,000) of communal establishment residents were in probation centres or prisons with the remaining 13.8% across a range of communal establishments.

People with second addresses

• 5.2% (161,000) of usual residents in Wales reported staying at a second address for more than 30 days a year, slightly higher than 2011, when it was 5.0% (154,000).
• Overall, 141,000 (4.5%) usual residents used a second address in the UK and 21,000 (0.7%) usual residents used a second address outside the UK.

In 2021, there were 1.35 million households in Wales with at least one usual resident on Census Day, in which 3,052,000 usual residents (98.2% of all usual residents) lived. The number of households has increased by almost 44,000 since 2011 (from 1.30 million).

Across Wales, the proportions of households in different types of accommodation were the same across the decade from 2011 to 2021.  In 2021, 87.2% (1.2 million) lived in a house or bungalow, 12.5% (168,000) lived in a flat, maisonette or apartment and 0.3% (4,000) lived in a caravan, or other mobile or temporary structure.

Figure 1: Accommodation type, 2021, Wales and England, all households

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The bar chart shows that a smaller proportion of households in Wales lived in a flat, maisonette or apartment (12.5%) than households in England (22.2%) and a higher proportion in Wales lived in a house or bungalow (87.2%) than households in England (77.4%).

Source: Welsh Government analysis of Census 2021 data

More detailed data showed small changes in the proportion of households living in different types of houses or bungalows including:

• 432,000 households (32.1% of all households) were in semi-detached properties, up from 414,000 (31.8%) in 2011
• 384,0000 (28.5%) were in detached properties, up from 361,000 (27.7%) in 2011
• 358,000 (26.6%) were in terraced properties, down from 361,000 (27.7%) in 2011

Within Wales, the largest percentage changes in household accommodation were seen in Torfaen, Newport and Merthyr Tydfil with a reduced percentage of households in terraced properties and an increased percentage in detached properties.

Tenure refers to whether a household rents or owns the accommodation that it occupies. Households that rent their accommodation were asked what type of landlord owns or manages it.

The census data on tenure in Wales showed:

• a decrease in the proportion of households that owned their accommodation, from 67.8% (883,000) in 2011 to 66.4% (894,000) in 2021
• an increase in the proportion of households that rented their accommodation, from 30.6% (399,000) in 2011 to 33.5% (451,000) in 2021
• a decrease in the proportion of households that lived rent free, from 1.6% (20,000) in 2011 to 0.2% (2,000) in 2021

The data on accommodation ownership and renting in 2021 can be broken down further to show that:

• 38.0% of households (512,000) owned the accommodation they lived in outright, an increase from 35.4% (461,000) in 2011
• 28.3% (382,000) of households owned their accommodation with a mortgage or loan or shared ownership, which is a smaller proportion than in 2011 (32.3%, 422,000)
• 17.0% (229,000) of households rented their accommodation privately, up from 14.2% (184,000) in 2011
• 16.5% (222,000) of households were in the social rented sector, for example renting through a local council or housing association. This is slightly higher than in 2011 (16.4%, 215,000)

Overall home ownership (the percentage of households who owned their accommodation outright or with a mortgage, loan or shared ownership) was higher in Wales (66.4%) than in England (62.3%).

Two English regions had higher rates of overall home ownership than Wales: the South East (67.1%) and the South West (67.0%). However, Wales had a higher percentage of those who owned their home outright (38.0%) than any English region.

How tenure varied across Wales

Figure 2: Tenure type, 2021, Wales and the local authorities in Wales, all households

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This stacked column chart shows how tenure type varied across local authorities in Wales with Cardiff showing the lowest overall home ownership at 58.3% and Monmouthshire showing the highest overall home ownership at 72.3%.

Source: Welsh Government analysis of 2021 Census data

Figure 2 shows the proportion of households in each local authority in Wales by tenure.

Across Wales, overall home ownership varied from 58.3% in Cardiff to 72.3% in Monmouthshire. Cardiff also had the highest percentage of households that rented their accommodation privately including rent free accommodation (24.3%), whereas Torfaen had the highest percentage of households in the social rented sector (23.8%).

Rooms

Census 2021 used Valuation Office Agency (VOA) data to count the number of rooms in a dwelling. This was instead of using the approach from previous censuses of asking the question on the census form. All rooms in a dwelling apart from bathrooms, toilets, halls or landings, kitchens, conservatories, or utility rooms are counted. For households living in a shared dwelling, the number of rooms are counted for the whole dwelling and not the individual household.

Across Wales, 6.6% (89,000) of households had one or two rooms, 75.7% (1.0 million) had three, four or five rooms, 16.7% (225,000) had six, seven or eight rooms and 1.0% (13,000) had nine or more rooms.

At a local authority level, Cardiff had the highest percentage of households living in one or two rooms (12.8%) and Blaenau Gwent had the highest percentage of households living in three, four or five rooms (87.1%). Monmouthshire had the highest percentage of households living in six, seven or eight rooms (26.0%) and Powys had the highest percentage of households living in nine or more rooms (2.1%).

The VOA method for counting number of rooms differs in several ways from the method used in the 2011 Census. For example, the VOA method includes storage rooms (which were excluded in the 2011 Census) but excludes kitchens, conservatories, and utility rooms (which were included in the 2011 Census). For this reason, Census 2021 data on number of rooms should not be directly compared with the equivalent 2011 Census data. For more information, see the ONS' Estimating the number of rooms in Census 2021: an update on imputation methods for Valuation Office Agency data article.

Bedrooms

As in 2011, Census 2021 directly asked about the number of bedrooms available to the household.

Figure 3: Proportion of households with one, two, three and four or more bedrooms, Wales, 2021

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Figure 3 shows almost half of all households have three bedrooms with nearly a quarter having two bedrooms. A fifth of households have four or more bedrooms and the remaining proportion of households (7.6%) have one bedroom.

Source: Welsh Government analysis of 2021 Census data

The proportion of households with one, two, or three bedrooms decreased across the past decade, whereas the proportion with four or more bedrooms increased:

• 7.6% (103,000) of households had one bedroom, compared with 7.8%, 102,000 in 2011
• 23.8% (321,000) had two bedrooms, compared with 24.2%, 316,000 in 2011
• 48.0% (646,000) had three bedrooms, compared with 48.9%, 637,000 in 2011
• 20.6% (277,000) had four or more bedrooms, compared with 19.1%, 248,000 in 2011

Wales had a lower percentage than England of households with one bedroom (7.6% compared to 11.6%), two bedrooms (23.8% compared to 27.3%) and four or more bedrooms (20.6% compared to 21.1%). In contrast, the percentage of households with three bedrooms was higher in Wales (48.0%) than in England (40.0%). Households living in three-bedroomed accommodation is the most common for both Wales and England.

In Wales, Neath Port Talbot and Caerphilly had the highest proportion of households with three bedrooms (58.1%). This was a decrease from 2011 when Neath Port Talbot had 59.5% of households with three bedrooms and Caerphilly had 59.1%. In both authorities the number of households with 3 bedrooms remained the same over the decade (36,000 and 44,000 respectively) whilst the number of households in smaller or larger accommodation increased Cardiff had the lowest proportion of households with three bedrooms (38.8%, 57,000), down from 40.1% (57,000) in 2011.

Monmouthshire (32.2%, 13,000) and the Vale of Glamorgan (28.2%,16,000) had the highest proportion of households with four or more bedrooms. Cardiff (13.6%, 20,000) and Denbighshire (30.5%, 13,000) had the highest proportion of households with one or two bedrooms respectively.

Overcrowding and under-occupancy

Occupancy rating provides a measure of whether a household’s accommodation is overcrowded or under-occupied.

An occupancy rating of negative 1 or less implies that a household has fewer bedrooms than the standard requirement (i.e. is overcrowded), positive 1 implies that they have more bedrooms than required (under-occupied), and 0 implies that they met the standard required. For further information on the definition for bedroom occupancy, see the ONS housing bulletin glossary.

Figure 4: Proportion of households, by local authority, overcrowded, under-occupied or meeting the required standard, Wales, 2021

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Figure 4 shows the number of households in 2021 either overcrowded, under-occupied or meeting the required standard by local authority.

Source: Welsh Government analysis of 2021 Census data

Across Wales, in 2021, 2.2% of households (30,000) had fewer bedrooms than required, down from 2.9% (38,000) in 2011. At a local authority level, Cardiff (3.9%) and Newport (3.4%) had the highest proportion of households with fewer bedrooms than required (with average occupancy ratings).

Wales had 21.4% (289,000) of households with the required number of bedrooms, which was lower than for England (26.8%, 6.3 million).

The remaining 76.3% (1.0 million) of households in Wales had more bedrooms than required compared to 68.8% (16.1 million) of households in England. At a local authority level, Powys (82%) had the highest proportions of households with more bedrooms than required (average occupancy ratings).

Almost all households across Wales reported that they had central heating in 2021 (98.8%, 1.3 million), a slightly higher proportion of households than in England (98.5%). 1.2% (15,000) of households in Wales had no central heating.

The most common types of central heating were mains gas (71.6%, 965,000), two or more types of central heating (not including renewable energy) (9.2%, 124,000) and oil only (7.8%, 105,000). Compared to England, Wales has a higher proportion of households using only oil (7.8% compared with 3.2%), solid fuel (0.6% compared with 0.2%) or tank or bottled gas (2.0% compared with 1.0%) for central heating. In particular, households in rural areas were most likely to rely on these forms of central heating with the highest proportions using oil only being in Ceredigion (35.3%, 11,000), Powys (27.7%, 17,000), Carmarthenshire (23.7%, 19,000) and Pembrokeshire (22.7%, 13,000).

Households with no central heating

Wales had a lower proportion of households with no central heating (1.2%, 15,000) compared to England (1.5%, 352,000).

Across the local authorities, Gwynedd had the highest proportion of households with no central heating (3.2%, 2,000), at more than two times the average for Wales. This was followed by Ceredigion (2.6%, 800) and the Isle of Anglesey (2.3%, 700).

Renewable energy

For the first time in 2021, the Census recorded whether a household’s central heating used renewable energy sources. The proportion of households using at least one renewable energy source was slightly higher in Wales (1.1%,14,000) than in England (0.9%, 219,000). A total of 0.6% (8,000) reported using renewable energy alongside another type of central heating, and 0.5% (6,000) used only renewable energy sources.

At a local authority level, Ceredigion had the highest proportion of households using at least one renewable energy source (4.1%, 1,000), followed by Powys (3.1%, 2,000). Ceredigion also had the highest percentage of households that used only renewable energy (2.6%) in the whole of England and Wales.

As in previous censuses, Census 2021 asked households how many cars or vans the household owned or had available to them.

In Wales in 2021

• 19.4% (262,000) of households had no cars or vans (down from 22.9%, 299,000 in 2011).
• 41.7% (562,000) had one car or van (down from 43.0%, 560,000 in 2011).
• 28.1% (379,000) had two cars or vans (up from 25.8%, 336,000 in 2011).
• 10.7% (144,000) had three or more cars or vans (up from 8.3%, 108,000 in 2011).

The percentage of households with no cars or vans in Wales (19.4%) in 2021 was lower than in England (23.5%) whilst the percentage of households with 3 or more cars or vans in Wales (10.7%) was higher than in England (9.1%).

The local authorities with the highest percentage of households with no cars or vans were Cardiff (26%, 38,000) and Merthyr Tydfil (25%, 6,000), whilst the local authorities with the highest percentage of households with 3 or more cars were Powys (15.0%) and Monmouthshire (14.9%). The data suggests that the proportion of  households with cars or vans is higher in the rural local authorities than in more urban areas.

A communal establishment is an establishment with full-time or part-time supervision providing residential accommodation, such as student halls of residence, boarding schools, armed forces bases, hospitals, care homes, and prisons.

When interpreting the data, it is important to keep in mind that the census was conducted during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which may have affected the number of residents in certain types of communal establishment. For example, the disruption to international travel may have led to a lower number of students in education establishments than would otherwise have been expected, because of a reduction in the number of students arriving from overseas.

Communal establishment residents by age and sex

In 2021, there were 56,000 usual residents in Wales (1.8% of all usual residents) who lived in communal establishments, compared with 3,052,000 (98.2%) who lived in households.

The number of people living in communal establishments has risen by almost 3,700 since 2011 (when 52,000 lived in communal establishments), a slight increase as a proportion of the usual resident population (from 1.7%).

In these statistics, we distinguish between those who are resident in a communal establishment and those who manage or work in it (and their families). We provide breakdowns by sex and age for residents, but not for the smaller numbers of the owners and staff of communal establishments, their family members, and those who were staying in a communal establishment temporarily with no usual UK address.

50.9% of communal establishment residents (27,000) were female and 49.1% (26,000) were male. This is similar to the breakdown by sex for the usual resident population for Wales (51.1% female, 48.9% male).

The breakdown by age shows that the communal establishment resident population is mostly concentrated within two age groups. Overall, 45.7% of communal establishment residents (24,000) were aged 16 to 24 years. It is likely that this group primarily consists of those in an education establishment (such as university halls of residence or boarding schools), which was the most common type of establishment that residents lived in.

A further 17.0% (9,000) were aged 85 years and over. The breakdown by sex within this age group shows that more than three-quarters of this age group were female (78.6% of all communal establishment residents aged 85 years and above). This may reflect the care home communal establishment population and the difference in life expectancy between men and women. In Wales, life expectancy at birth was 82 years for women and 78 years for men for 2018-20. This was a slight reduction for both males and females, following higher death rates in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Types of communal establishment

Communal establishments can be divided into medical and care establishments and other types of communal establishments (such as hotels and hostels, education facilities, armed forces bases, and prisons).

Figure 5: Proportion of communal establishment residents by types of communal establishments, Wales, 2021

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Figure 5 shows that an education establishment was the most common communal establishment followed by care homes.

Source: Welsh Government analysis of 2021 Census data

An educational establishment includes university halls of residence and boarding schools and accounted for 43.6% of communal establishment residents (24,000). This was an increase of more than 4,000 from 2011 (up from 20,000, 38.2%). This is most likely to reflect the growth in the number of university students in Wales across the past decade and may also reflect changes in student housing choices.

A further 35.1% of communal establishment residents (20,000) were in care homes, down from 40.7% (21,000) in 2011. Of these:

• 19.2% (11,000) were in care homes without nursing (down from 12,000 in 2011)
• 15.9% (9,000) were in care homes with nursing (also 9,000 in 2011)

There were considerably fewer people residing in other types of communal establishments (rounded to nearest hundred):

• 4,000 (7.5% of all communal establishment residents) were in prison or probation centres
• 1,300 (2.3%) were in travel or other temporary accommodation establishments
• 1,000 (1.8%) were in hostels or temporary shelters for the homeless
• 1,000 (1.7%) were in defence establishments
• 1,000 (1.6%) were in hospitals (including secure units)
• 600 (1.1%) were in other medical and care establishments
• 500 (0.9%) were in children’s homes (including secure units)
• 100 (0.2%) were in religious establishments
• 1,200 (2.2%) were in establishments not stated

A further 1,000 (1.9%) were in staff or worker accommodation within the communal establishment or listed another type of communal establishment.

During the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic plans were put in place to protect rough sleepers in Wales. More types of accommodation housed people who were experiencing homelessness in Wales and there was a movement of homeless people to different types of accommodation. Figures for those in shelters may be less than expected, because of their movement to alternative accommodation.

Figures recorded for communal establishments such as student halls and hotels may include people who are experiencing homelessness. People experiencing homelessness housed in alternative communal establishments, are not identified in the data as homeless.

Take care when analysing this data for planning or policy making. Homelessness statistics in Wales is the most appropriate source of data to count the number of homelessness duties accepted by local authorities.

There have been small changes to housing definitions since the 2011 Census, meaning some sheltered housing units were enumerated as communal establishments in 2011 but as households in 2021. Users should keep this in mind when comparing 2011 and 2021 census data for this topic, as described in Housing variables Census 2021.

How communal establishment populations varied across England and Wales

The proportion of people living in communal establishments was similar in England and Wales. In England, 1.7% of the population (986,000) resided in communal establishments, compared with 1.8% in Wales (56,000).

Education establishments and care homes were the most common communal establishment types in both England and Wales. The percentage of the usual resident population who resided in education establishments was 0.8% in both England (452,000) and Wales (24,000). The percentage who resided in care homes was 0.6% in both England (324,000) and Wales (20,000).

In Wales, the local authorities with the highest percentages of people resident in care homes were Denbighshire and Conwy (both 1.2%).

At the local authority level, the areas with the highest percentage of their population in educational establishments in Wales were all university cities and towns with Ceredigion (4.3%) and Cardiff (3.5%) at the top of the list.

The data also showed a rise in the number of people in prisons (4,000, 7.2% in 2021 from 3,000, 4.8% in 2011) which is largely due to the opening of a new prison (HMP Berwyn) in 2017 in Wrexham.

In addition to reporting their primary address, Census 2021 also asked respondents to report whether they stay at another address for more than 30 days a year. If they answered yes, they were then asked the purpose of the second address, and whether it is within or outside the UK.

Information on second addresses located in Wales will be available in future Census 2021 outputs.

With these data it is important to consider the impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, for instance students may have been more likely to be residing at their parent or guardian’s address for the whole academic year with no use of a second term-time address.

The percentage of people who used a second address was slightly lower in Wales (5.2%) than it was in England (5.4%).

Within Wales, a larger percentage of usual residents living in Cardiff (10.5%) and Ceredigion (10.2%) used second addresses, whereas Blaenau Gwent (2.7%) and Merthyr Tydfil (3.0%) had the lowest percentages.

The most common types of second address were another parent or guardian’s address (used by 58,000 people, 36.0% of those who used a second address) and students’ home addresses (37,000, 23.2%).

People with second addresses within and outside the UK

Overall, 141,00 people in Wales (4.5% of the usual resident population) used a second address within the UK, an increase from 125,000 (4.1%) in 2011. The proportion of people who used a second address within the UK was higher in Wales than England (4.1%).

In 2021 21,000 people in Wales (0.7%) used a second address outside the UK, which is a decrease compared with 2011 (29,000, 1.0%). The proportion of people who used a second address outside the UK was lower in Wales than England (1.3%).

The local authorities with the highest percentage of people who used a second address within the UK were Ceredigion (9.1%), Cardiff (9.0%), Gwynedd and Swansea (both 6.6%). All these areas have universities, so the high percentage of people with second addresses is likely to reflect students with both a term-time address and a non-term-time address.

The local authorities with the highest percentage of residents who used a second address outside the UK were Cardiff (1.5%) and Ceredigion (1.1%).

Types of second address 

People who reported the use of a second address were asked “What is that address?” and given a list of eight options to choose from.

Figure 6: Types of second address, Wales, 2021

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Figure 6 shows that in 2021 “Another parent or guardian’s address" was the most common type of second address.

Source: Welsh Government analysis of 2021 Census data

“Another parent or guardian’s address”, which would have been selected for children whose parents were separated or lived apart was selected by 58,000 people in 2021 (1.9% of the usual resident population), a considerable increase since 2011 (from 39,000, 1.3%).

The next largest group was “Student’s home address”, at 37,000 (1.2%). The number in this group has decreased since 2011, when it was 45,000 (1.5%). This likely reflects a coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic effect, as fewer students would have been staying at a term-time address than would otherwise have been expected.

The largest decrease, by number of people, from 2011 to 2021 was in those who reported using an “Other address”. Part of this reduction may be due to people being captured in a new category for 2021: Partner’s address. In 2021, 13,000 people (0.4%) reported using this type of second address.

Other notable decreases were in the number of people who used an “other address when working away from home” (11,000 (0.4%) in 2021 from 16,000 people (0.5%) in 2011) and an “armed forces base address” (2,000 (0.1%) in 2021 from 5,000 (0.2%) in 2011).

The proportion who reported a “holiday home” for their second address was more stable. The number of people across Wales who reported the use of a holiday home rose by 300 to 18,000 in 2021, but the percentage remained the same between 2011 and 2021 (0.6%). The percentage of the population who used a holiday home was higher in England (0.8%) than it was in Wales (0.6%).

For full quality and methodology information, including a glossary of terms, please visit the ONS’ quality and methodology information report. Read more about the specific quality considerations for Housing (Office for National Statistics).

Further information on our quality assurance processes is provided in the Maximising the quality of Census 2021 population estimates methodology (Office for National Statistics).

Population change in certain areas may reflect how the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic affected people’s choice of usual residence on Census Day. These changes might have been temporary for some and more long-lasting for others.

There will be further releases of Census 2021 data in the coming months including information about topics such as the sexual orientation and gender identity, education and health and well-being. For further information about the data and analysis that will be available, see the ONS’ release plans.

Glossary

For a full glossary of terms, please see the ONS’ Census 2021 dictionary.

National Statistics status

The United Kingdom Statistics Authority has designated these statistics as National Statistics, in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and signifying compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

National Statistics status means that official statistics meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality, and public value.

All official statistics should comply with all aspects of the Code of Practice for Statistics. They are awarded National Statistics status following an assessment by the UK Statistics Authority’s regulatory arm. The Authority considers whether the statistics meet the highest standards of Code compliance, including the value they add to public decisions and debate.

It is Welsh Government’s responsibility to maintain compliance with the standards expected of National Statistics. If we become concerned about whether these statistics are still meeting the appropriate standards, we will discuss any concerns with the Authority promptly. National Statistics status can be removed at any point when the highest standards are not maintained, and reinstated when standards are restored.

The designation of these statistics as National Statistics was confirmed to the ONS in June 2022 following a full assessment against the Code of Practice by the Office for Statistics Regulation.

Well-being of Future Generations Act (WFG)

The Well-being of Future Generations Act 2015 is about improving the social, economic, environmental, and cultural wellbeing of Wales. The Act puts in place seven wellbeing goals for Wales. These are for a more equal, prosperous, resilient, healthier, and globally responsible Wales, with cohesive communities and a vibrant culture and thriving Welsh language. Under section (10)(1) of the Act, the Welsh Ministers must (a) publish indicators (“national indicators”) that must be applied for the purpose of measuring progress towards the achievement of the wellbeing goals, and (b) lay a copy of the national indicators before Senedd Cymru. Under section 10(8) of the Well-being of Future Generations Act, where the Welsh Ministers revise the national indicators, they must as soon as reasonably practicable (a) publish the indicators as revised and (b) lay a copy of them before the Senedd. These national indicators were laid before the Senedd in 2021. The indicators laid on 14 December 2021 replace the set laid on 16 March 2016.

Information on the indicators, along with narratives for each of the wellbeing goals and associated technical information is available in the Wellbeing of Wales report.

Further information on the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.

The statistics included in this release could also provide supporting narrative to the national indicators and be used by public services boards in relation to their local wellbeing assessments and local wellbeing plans.

Statistician: Rhiannon Jones
Email: stats.housing@gov.wales

Media: 0300 025 8099

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SB 01/2023