New legislation was enacted through the Census (Amendment) Act 2000 to allow the question to be asked, and to make its response optional. Perhaps encouraged by a chain letter that started in New Zealand, 390,000 people entered their religion as "Jedi Knight", with some areas registering up to 2.6% of people as Jedi. Thus, "Jedi" was the fourth-largest reported religion in the country.(See: Jedi census phenomenon). 2011 The 2011 national census took place on 27 March 2011. Several identity and status questions were included for the first time in the census, including questions relating to civil partnerships. The first set of data to be released from this census (basic counts of population by age and sex) was made available in July 2012, with the remainder of the tables following thereafter. 2021 The 2021 National census took place on 21 March 2021. On behalf of the Government, the UK Statistics Authority initiated a research programme, called Beyond 2011, to investigate a range of alternative options to conducting a UK-wide census in 2021. There was not one census covering the whole UK in 2021 as the census in Scotland was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following agreement to the recommendations in January 2015, the UK Statistics Authority formally closed the Beyond 2011 Programme. It has been replaced by the Census Transformation Programme which has the purpose of taking forward and implementing the vision and recommended approaches. List of UK censuses See also Census Enumerators' Books Census of Ireland, 1911 Citizen Information Project Demography of the United Kingdom Jedi census phenomenon List of United Kingdom censuses Census (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2019 Domesday Book References Further reading External links Census - Office for National Statistics, which is responsible for the Census in England and Wales The Census Order 2000 (England & Wales) Story of the Census The National Archives - selective access information to UK census data. The Census Office for Northern Ireland The General Register Office for Scotland which has been responsible for the taking of the census in Scotland since 1861. Scotland's Census Results OnLine The British Census (Concepts and Techniques in Modern Geography) The UK Census of Population 1981 (Concepts and Techniques in Modern Geography) The UK Census of Population 1991 (Concepts and Techniques in Modern Geography) Census.ac.uk - free census resources for academic research in the UK. Official archived version of 2011 census website (www.census.gov.uk) United Kingdom Census Records-