Constituency data: Central heating (Census 2021, 2022)

The census asked people about the type of central heating their household uses.  The census was carried out in March 2021 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and in March 2022 in Scotland. This dashboard shows the results for constituencies across the UK.

Most households (73%) in the UK said mains gas was their only central heating source. 8% used electric central heating, 5% used oil central heating and 2% had no central heating. This is broadly similar to the proportion of households using different types of central heating in the 2011 census.

Alternatives to gas heating were mostly used in areas where mains gas was less available. This includes Northern Ireland where half (50%) of households said oil was their only central heating. Many of the constituencies where a high percentage of households had electric-only heating were in urban areas, including London. This is because high rise flats tend not to have mains gas due to the fire risk.

The response options were different in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. To make it easier to make comparisons, we have aggregated heating types together into broad categories. We have also created UK averages for the broader groups using 2021 data for England, Wales and Northern Ireland and 2022 data for Scotland. These figures are for comparative purposes, and don’t tell us about the population on a particular date.

Explore constituency data

• Find which constituency you live in

Use the dropdown menu below to select the constituency you’re interested in and view statistics on households by central heating type.

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Definitions

Central heating is a system to heat multiple rooms in a building by circulating air or heated water through pipes to radiators or vents. Single or multiple fuel sources can fuel these systems.

We have aggregated central heating types used in the census data into broader groups that allow for consistent comparisons across the UK.

‘Other’ central heating includes the categories: other central heating, district or communal heat networks, renewable energy, solid fuel (for example coal), wood, biomass (including logs, pellets, chippings).

The definition of ‘two of more types of central heating’ refers to households using two or more types including renewable energy or not including renewable energy.

Central heating systems that are unused or not working are still counted. No information is available for households with no usual residents.

Due to changes in question structure, this data cannot be compared with 2011 census data on central heating.

Sources

England and Wales: Office for National Statistics, 2021 census table TS046 Northern Ireland: Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, 2021 census table MS-E11 Scotland: Scotland’s census, Search census data, Table UV407

Data updates

This dashboard uses census data. The 2021 and 2022 censuses are currently the only source of constituency-level data on this topic, which means that there aren’t any updates planned for the near future.