Census 2021 population data (FOI)

Produced by the Freedom of Information office
Authored by Government of Jersey and published on 11 February 2022.
Prepared internally, no external costs.

Request

I would like to know the current population of the Island of Jersey as provided in the Jersey Census of Sunday 21st March 2021.

Response

The Census results are due to be published in Quarter 1 to Quarter 2 of this year in line with the Statistics Jersey release schedule therefore Article 36 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

Publication release schedule (Statistics Jersey)

Article applied

Article 36 - Information intended for future publication

(1)        Information is qualified exempt information if, at the time when the request for the information is made, the information is being held by a public authority with a view to its being published within 12 weeks of the date of the request.

(2)        A scheduled public authority that refuses an application for information on this ground must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant –

(a)        of the date when the information will be published;

(b)        of the manner in which it will be published; and

(c)        by whom it will be published.

(3)        In this Article, "published" means published –

(a)        by a public authority; or

(b)        by any other person.

Public Interest Test

Article 36 is a qualified exemption, which means that a public interest test has to be undertaken to examine the circumstances of the case and decide whether, on balance, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Public interest considerations favouring disclosure

• disclosure of the information would support transparency and promote accountability to the general public

Public interest considerations favouring withholding the information

•  It is intended to publish bulletins relating to Census data within 12 weeks of the receipt of this request on www.gov.je. Publishing the draft document in such close proximity to the final version would potentially lead to confusion.