The Census paints a comprehensive picture of society and is a vital source of information about the population of England and Wales. The first two phases, in September 2002 and February 2003, revealed the population number and counts of responses to the census questions. This third instalment of the series, Census 2001 National Report for England and Wales, produced by the National Statistics, provides the first opportunity to see in greater detail the results of the Census. This report contains 145 statistical tables covering the range of topics from the 2001 Census. For some topics, additional variables have been derived from a combination of responses to a number of questions. Examples of such derived variables are the National Statistics Socio-economic Classification, and living arrangements within households. Results are provided for England and Wales as a whole, in a variety of tables as follows. Standard Tables, provide a cross-tabulation of two or more Census variables such as Age by sex and marital status, Household composition by number of cars or vans available. Theme Tables, bring together a range of results on a particular population, such as dependent children. Supplementary Tables, are in addition to the cross-tabulations provided in Standard and Theme. Some of these provide further information on some individual variables, or specific counts of interest. These regular censuses underpin and make an essential contribution to public policy and to service provision, in both the public and private sector. The results from this latest Census will form the basis for key decisions over the next ten years.