Small area statistics from the 1981 Census are an important and in some cases the only source of demographic information about particular neighbourhoods. The statistics are available from the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, and some health regions and districts have bought them. The figures are very detailed, and their availability is not widely known within the health service. Doreen Irving and Peter Rice at the London School of Economics have recently analysed some of the small area statistics for England and Wales. The purpose of this publication is to explain how their results and other information from the census may be used in health services planning.