Search by postcode, parish, council or county name and find demographic information about your area from the 2021 ONS Census.
- Search anywhere. Every one of the 2.4 million postcodes, plus towns, parishes, local authorities and regions, is matched on the device with resident counts shown beside each suggestion.
- Zoom from country to street. Aggregated cells at national scale, real LSOA boundaries as you get closer, and raw Output Area values with nothing smoothed or estimated.
- Tap for the breakdown. Usual residents and each ethnic group as a percentage and a count. Switch between White, Black, Asian, Mixed and Other.
- Export CSV extracts of any selection for your own reports.
- Fully offline. The nationwide package is built into the app, so it works with no signal from the first launch.
Populus
Privacy policy
This app does not collect any personal information, local device information, background information or anything else, from the moment it is installed to the moment it is deleted.
The only data that is utilised is the ONS database itself, which comes pre-packaged with the app, which is saved onto your device.
Last updated 1 June 2026 · Applies to Populus on iOS, iPadOS and Android
App privacy · as declared to Apple and Google
Data Not Collected
Data Not Collected
Populus collects no data, so nothing is used to track you, nothing is linked to your identity and nothing is collected anonymously either.
- Data Used to Track You None No advertising or analytics identifiers, no third-party tracking.
- Data Linked to You None No account, no contact details, no location, no identifiers.
- Data Not Linked to You None No usage data, diagnostics or crash reports, even anonymised.
Privacy practices may vary by app version. This label mirrors the App Store and Google Play data-safety declarations for Populus and is kept in sync with the policy below.
1. Who we are
Populus is developed and published by Civitas Network ("we", "us"). This policy explains what information Populus does and does not handle.
2. Information we collect
None. Populus does not collect, store, transmit or sell any personal data. In particular, the app does not collect:
- names, email addresses, phone numbers or other contact details;
- your location, precise or approximate — the app never requests location permission;
- search queries, map positions, selected areas or any other usage data;
- device identifiers, advertising identifiers, IP addresses or crash reports;
- contacts, photos, files or any other content stored on your device.
3. How the app works without a connection
All Census data, boundaries and the postcode index are bundled inside the app at install time. On first launch the app prepares a search index locally on your device. After that Populus makes no network requests: it does not download data, check for updates, fetch map tiles or contact any server operated by us or anyone else.
4. Third-party services
Populus contains no third-party analytics, advertising, crash-reporting or tracking software. The only third party involved is the store you install it from (Apple App Store or Google Play), which may record your download under its own privacy policy. We do not control or receive that information.
5. Data you choose to export
Populus lets you export CSV extracts of the areas you are viewing. Exports are created on your device and handed to the system share sheet or file picker. Where you send or save that file is entirely your choice, and we never receive a copy.
6. Data stored on your device
The app keeps its bundled dataset, the locally built search index and basic interface preferences (such as the last selected category) in its own private storage. This never leaves your device and is removed when you uninstall the app.
7. Children
Populus collects no personal information from anyone, including children under 13 (or the equivalent minimum age in your jurisdiction). The app contains published statistical data only.
8. Your rights
Because we hold no personal data about you, there is nothing for us to access, correct, port or delete. If you believe otherwise, contact us and we will investigate promptly.
9. Changes to this policy
If a future version of Populus ever changes how it handles data, we will update this page before that version is released and change the date above. This page, civitas-network.com/projects/populus#privacy, is the canonical copy of the Populus privacy policy.
Where the numbers come from
Data & sources
Census 2021, table TS021
Ethnic group by Output Area for England and Wales, published by the Office for National Statistics. Populus shows the published figures as they are, with no modelling or estimation applied.
ONS Open Geography
Output Area population-weighted centroids, the ONS postcode lookup, and generalised LSOA boundaries used for the mid-zoom shapes.
Licensing
Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right. Contains Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and database right.
Populus is an independent project by Civitas Network and is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the Office for National Statistics.
Keep Populus free
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Donations pay for developer accounts, hosting this site and the time it takes to keep the data current.