The Office for National Statistics (ONS) distributes a national area classification system based on Census 2001 variables known as the OAC (Table 10; Map 20). It uses 7 Supergroups, which can be subdivided into Groups and Subgroups (Table 11). Each level is a result of K-Means clustering of the remaining data structure (Vickers et al. 2005).

Most of Southwark area falls into Supergroup 7: Multicultural. This Supergroup divides into two Groups: Asian Communities (7a) and Afro-Caribbean Communities (7b), where the latter is the dominant ONS area class in Southwark (Map 21).

Table 10 Census variables used in ONS area classification system [TOP]

Age 0 - 4	Rooms per household
Age 5 -14	People per room
Age 25 - 44	HE qualifications
Age 45 - 64	Routine/Semi-Routine occupation
Age 65+	2+ Car household
Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi	Public transport to work
Black African, Black Caribbean or Black Other	Work from home
Born outside UK	Long Term Limiting Illness (Standardised Illness Ratio)
Population density	Provide unpaid care
Divorced	Students (full time)
Single person household (not pensioner)	Unemployed
Single pensioner household (pensioner)	Working part-time
Lone parent household	Economically inactive looking after family
Two adult no children	Agriculture/fishing employment
Households with non-dependent children	Mining/quarrying/construction employment
Rent (public)	Manufacturing employment
Rent (private)	Hotel & catering employment
Terraced Housing	Health/social work employment
Detached Housing	Financial intermediation employment
All Flats	Wholesale/retail employment
No central heating

Map 20 ONS Area Classification for UK (Output Area level) for Southwark and London

Table 11 ONS Area Classification Supergroup and Group titles [TOP]

Supergroup	Group
1: Blue Collar Communities	1a: Terraced Blue Collar
	1b: Younger Blue Collar
	1c: Older Blue Collar
2: City Living	2a: Transient Communities
	2b: Settled in the City
3: Countryside	3a: Village Life
	3b: Agricultural
	3c: Accessible Countryside
4: Prospering Suburbs	4a: Prospering Younger Families
	4b: Prospering Older Families
	4c: Prospering Semis
	4d: Thriving Suburbs
5: Constrained by Circumstances	5a: Senior Communities
	5b: Older Workers
	5c: Public Housing
6: Typical Traits	6a: Settled Households
	6b: Least Divergent
	6c: Young Families in Terraced Homes
	6d: Aspiring Households
7: Multicultural	7a: Asian Communities
	7b: Afro-Caribbean Communities

REFERENCES [TOP]
Vickers, D. et al. 2005. Creating the national classification of census output areas: data, methods and results. School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds.