U.K. Powerless to Stop ‘Jedis, Witches’ Spoiling 2011 Census
People who want to declare their religion as Jedi or call themselves witches will be free to do so in the 2011 census in England and Wales, its organizer said.
Office for National Statistics Census Director Glen Watson said that while it is “not acceptable” to submit joke answers, he is powerless to act. In the last census in 2001, 400,000 people claimed they were part of the Star Wars movement, some of them putting the answer as a protest against privacy invasion.
“The religion question is the only voluntary question on the whole questionnaire,” Watson told reporters in London today at the launch of the 482-million-pound ($782 million) project. “We would process the information and we would include that in the results, I imagine. I don’t think we would pursue somebody for declaring their religion, for example, as Jedi.”
The census aims to give an accurate snapshot of life in Britain and will focus more on how people view their identity and language ability as a result of an increase in immigration in the last decade.
Changing lifestyles and home use will also be tracked, with the section on rooms now including a category to list conservatories and studies. About 26 million forms will be sent out to households in March.
To contact the reporter on this story: Kitty Donaldson in London at kdonaldson1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net.
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