Spreadsheet Project - Population Data

In the online Census pages find the information listed below for all the London boroughs.

To get started find the Local Authority Profiles towards the bottom of the Census home page, click on the letter H and click on Harrow, Profile.

Click on the 'Go to Harrow page with data displayed as percentages' link.

You can now see a list of London boroughs on the right hand side of the page, so it's easy to switch to the others.

Enter a list of the London boroughs in a spreadsheet (use this one).

Get the data for one of the following information sets for all the London Boroughs (select each data item and use copy/paste). There will be a 'starter' spreadsheet in the usual place so you only have to collect the last five values from the Census web page, leaving you free to concentrate on creating charts and analysing the patterns in the data.

• Population structure (total, males/females)
• Population structure (total, 0-15, 16-74, 75 & over)
• Population density (people/hectare)
• Population change since the last census (1991)
• Proportions of married and single people
• Proportions of separated or divorced people
• Proportion of people with a car or van
• Proportion of people with 2 or more cars or vans
• Proportion of lone parent households with dependent children
• Proportion of one person and married couple households
• Proportion of white people
• Proportions of other ethnic groups
• Proportions born in UK, EU and elsewhere
• Proportions of different religions
• Proportion with 'limiting long term illness'
• Proportion 'General health not good'
• Proportion of employed and unemployed
• Proportion of people using private cars and public transport to get to work
• Proportion of owner-occupied houses
• Proportion of houses without central heating
• Proportion of students
• Proportions of people with degrees and no qualifications

Each person's findings can be presented to the class in turn so that a complete picture of London's population characteristics can be obtained.

Charts, Maps and Report

Produce a report in Word on your findings from this research under the overall heading/question:

Is the population in London the same in every borough?

Possible approaches to this question:

• Complete one topic each, as listed above, and then share each others work between a group;
• Describe the population characteristics of a single borough and then share these between a group;

A second question might be:

Are there boroughs that share similar characteristics?

• Compare boroughs and group them together on the various statistics, e.g. Inner London/Outer London;

A final question:

Are there features of London's population that are found right across the city?

Create charts to illustrate the data you have collected. Use the charts to identify the differences between the populations of inner city and suburban areas of London. It may be helpful to sort the data so the chart shows smallest first, etc.

Create a choropleth map for the variable you have been assigned. There is an outline map in the usual place (the numbers correspond to an alphabetical list of the boroughs). Use a site such as this one to work out the names of the boroughs and shade them in a range of colours (no more than five) to reflect the major divisions between the boroughs.

Copy and paste the charts and map into Word to create a report on the differences for your data set. Write general conclusions on: distance from city centre (inner city/outer city); general level of wealth; general level of health; levels of employment; ethnic composition of the population.

What do the figures and charts tell you about the population of London?

Extension: use the Local Data option at the bottom of the page and examine smaller areas. e.g. where you live and a contrasting area nearby. (This information is also available at the neighbourhood statistics site.)

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