UK-OAC is a hierarchical geodemographic classification which identifies neighbourhoods in the United Kingdom, based on Census data from 2021 in England/Wales/Northern Ireland, and 2022 in Scotland that share similar characteristics. The taxonomy classifies Output Areas into 8 different Supergroups, along with 21 nested Groups and 52 nested Subgroups. It extends the 2021 OAC product that was released earlier for England/Wales only and is available for immediate download.
Note that pen portraits and some classification names have been updated since 2021 OAC (covering England/Wales) was released, to better reflect descriptions now that Scotland and Northern Ireland are added in. The England/Wales classification values remain unchanged.
It is anticipated that UK-OAC will replace 2021 OAC in time, once the extended area and updated names are fully endorsed by ONS. In the interim, UK-OAC will be available as a Safeguarded data product as a service to registered GeoDS users.
If you need the data for just areas within England and/or Wales, you can download it directly from the Related Record link below, rather than applying for it here.
Content
The data are supplied in CSV format. Additional information about these data, including the detailed typology, glossary of variables and terms, and distributional statistics, is available for download below, along with classification codes and labels.
Quality, Representation and Bias
Built using official government statistical estimates, the quality of the underpinning data is understood to be very high, and offers coverage of every UK neighbourhood. The classification methodology has been published and subjected to independent peer review. We provide additional documentation of the ways in which differences in Census variables differs amongst UK nations.
UK OAC summarises general population characteristics and built environment attributes and are designed for wide use in research for policy. The Wyszomierski et al (2023) paper provides a full rationale and documentation of the work undertaken. While it is based on the interim UK-OAC Modelled product, its techniques extend to this finalised version.
Version History
- 1.0 - OAC 2001
- 2.0 - OAC 2011
- 3.0 - OAC 2021 (Initial release for England/Wales)
- 3.01 - Addition of index scores by local authority
- 3.02 - Addition of group populations by local authority
- 3.1 - UK-OAC Modelled (Safeguarded release)
- 3.2 - UK-OAC (Safeguarded Fast-tracked release) [this version]
