What can the census tell us about areas with low voter registration?
As part of our work to strengthen the democratic voice of private renters, it has been important to understand how many of us there are and where we live. We have taken a look at the 2021 Census for England and Wales to identify which parts of the country have the largest private renter populations and where these have changed most significantly in the 2010s.
Our first full report using Census data, Gaining Our Voice, was published in November 2023 and can be found here. We also looked at voter registration data to understand differences in voter behaviour between private renters and people in other tenures.
Our second report, on our voter registration campaign in early 2024, is available here, and contains some new insights on eligible voters and the electorate at the General Election.
As part of this work we looked at other demographic characteristics associated with lower than average voter registration, including age and ethnicity.
Data by constituency
As part of this work we have set up two dashboards where you can find and compare the following demographic characteristics at constituency level – both 2010 and 2024 boundaries:
- Voter registration over time
- Estimates of eligible voters in 2021 (2024 constituencies only)
- Ethnic profile
- Tenure profile
- Young voters
- Religion (2024 constituencies only)
- Type of passport held (2024 constituencies only)
On each dashboard you can use the dropdown menu to select up to three constituencies to compare. You can sort and export the data behind each table or chart by hovering over each heading until symbols appear – export is available under “More”.
You can find your 2010 and 2024 constituencies on Electoral Calculus.
Census dashboards: 2010 constituencies 2024 constituencies
The data used in the first report, including at local authority level, is also available in spreadsheet format here. Data used in our second report, on eligible voters and 2024 electorate at constituency level, can be found here. These spreadsheets can be sorted to find areas with particular characteristics. If you find you cannot sort the spreadsheet, we recommend making a copy or downloading the spreadsheet via the File menu. You can learn more about sorting and filtering Google Sheets here.
Eligible and missing voters, and total number of private renters
The final tab on this spreadsheet relates to 86 seats for which we were able to estimate the number of eligible voters missing from the electoral register in 2022. Please note that this does not include voters who were registered but at a previous address, which Electoral Commission research indicates represent a much higher number, at this stage in the electoral cycle, than the number of voters missing from the register completely. While we estimated that 2.3m eligible voters were not on the electoral register in December 2022, the Electoral Commission estimates that 3.9m voters were registered inaccurately.
As part of the report we also estimated the number of eligible voters in each tenure in England. We estimate at the time of the 2021 Census there were:
- 6.8m individual private renters eligible to vote
- just under 12m adults and children living in private rented homes in England.
Our calculations can be found here.
Street level tenure data
Another source of data that can help us to understand the private renter population is the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) register. All private rented homes need an EPC by law and they are all logged online, with tenure details. We have been able to find the number of private rented properties in every postcode and have sorted these by constituency (both 2010 and 2024 boundaries). You can view and compare this data by constituency on our dashboards.
EPC dashboards: 2010 constituencies 2024 constituencies
We hope to improve the presentation of the data and provide more features after consultation with stakeholders. To share your feedback, please contact Dan Wilson Craw on [email protected].
As of 16 November 2023, the data is accurate to the best of our knowledge and we will update it as and when we get access to more recent or better sources.
The UK Democracy Fund, a Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust initiative, funded the work set out on this page. The material presented here represents the views of the authors, not necessarily those of JRRT or other UK Democracy Fund contributors.