Home ownership, divorce and outdoor toilets: Census data shows how life changed in Britain over past 60 years

Scans of the 1961 Census Small Area Statistics have been transformed into digital tables allowing easy access to the records for the first time, writes Rory Sullivan

A man collects census answers at a checkpoint in Dalton, Yorkshire, six decades ago (PA)

Indoor toilets now grace homes up and down the country, but it was a very different picture in 1961, when they were far more of a luxury.

This is one of several significant social and economic changes over the past 60 years to be highlighted by newly digitised census data, published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Monday.

Sixty years ago, nearly 7 per cent of homes in England and Wales did not have an inside or attached toilet. As a result, many residents had to use either outdoor facilities in their gardens or communal ones shared between neighbours.