Closed petition Release all records from each census after 75 years instead of 100 years

A census gives the government a picture of households across the UK and is also used by genealogists to research family history. The UK has a longer waiting time for census records to be released, at 100 years compared to Canada's 92 and USA's 72. We'll have to wait until 2052 for the next release.

More details

From the Inter-War period, genealogists in the UK have the information given to them about ancestors from the 1921 census and 1939 England and Wales Register.

However, the 1931 census was burnt in a fire in 1942 so that leaves a 30-year gap between the 1921 census and next available census from 1951.

Between the UK, USA and Canada, the UK has the longest wait for census records to be released, and I think that it should be lowered to 75 years instead.

This petition is closed All petitions run for 6 months

43 signatures

Progress of the petition towards its next target: 43 of 10,000 signatures required to get a government response

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10,000 signatures required to get a government response

Date closed 31 January 2026
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