Recounting the past: was the 1991 census right after all?

Confidence in the accuracy of the 2001 Census has resulted in a revision of official RG estimates to bring them in line with the census. This has involved a revision of the historical record right back to 1981 census. At the time of the 1991 Census, a similar discrepancy between census and RG estimates had led to the conclusion that the census had 'missed' the million - the fact that the 1991 Census Validation Survey failed to account for these was put down to flaws in that survey rather than the possibility that RG estimates were wrong. The revised 1991 census estimate is half way between the Census and CVS and the unrevised 1991 estimate.