The UK population became better educated, more ethnically diverse and older between 2001 and 2011, according to the census data released today for 2011.

It also showed that with 4.22m workers, or 15.9% of the workforce, ‘wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motor cycles’ was the industry which employed most people. Health and social work was the only other area accounting for more than one in 10 of the workforce at 12.5%.

Further analysis of how the labour market section of the census can be compared with 2001 will be published next year, as the two censuses were significantly different in this aspect.

In 2011, there were more people with Level 4 or above qualifications – for example, Bachelor’s degree (27% of the population, 12.4m people) – than there were with no qualifications (23%).

One in six of the population was aged over 65 last year, or 9.2m people – up by nearly 1m over the past decade, while in both surveys the proportion of people aged under five (6%) was the same.

In England and Wales in 2001, 86% of residents belonged to the white ethnic group, down from 91% in 2001. Indian (2.5%), Pakistani (2%) and African (1.8%) were the largest of the minority ethnic groups.

The data released so far is available from the Office for National Statistics.