By Steve Doughty for the Daily MailPublished: 20:43 EDT, 13 July 2021 | Updated: 20:47 EDT, 13 July 2021The pandemic may have killed off the 220-year-old national census, statistics chiefs said yesterday. This year's census may be the final one to be held, breaking a tradition going back to 1801The census has been under fire from politicians in recent decades. But yesterday the suggestion of putting an end to the exercise came from the organisation that runs it, the Office for National Statistics. Pete Benton, population chief of the ONS, said: ‘Traditionally census data reduces in value over the longer term as our circumstances change. This will include the role of any future census and, for example, necessary improvements in data collection or acquisition, methods and infrastructure.’

Source: The Nation July 14, 2021 00:45 UTC