THE Isle of Man's 2011 census was conducted on Sunday, March 27.

Forms were distributed to all residential addresses around the Island which asked everyone the same questions on the same day in order to take a snapshot of the population at one point in time.
 
The Manx Heritage Foundation urged all residents who could speak Manx to state it on their 2011 census forms.

Adrian Cain, the Manx language officer for the Isle of Man, said: "Numbers are important so we need people to be positive and support the language. I'm also hoping that by ticking the yes boxes it can act as a spur to people to continue to learn and improve their knowledge of Manx."

The then Treasury Minister, Anne Craine MHK, said the data collected from the census was "invaluable" to government planners.

All of the information provided on the census forms is confidential and after initial analysis the forms are stored in sealed boxes within the government's archives and will not be available to anyone for more than 100 years.

Update: The provisional results of the census showed that the population of the Isle of Man had risen by nearly 4,500. For more on this click here.

This story is part of isleofman.com's Review of the Year 2011.