I suspect it was just a head count - and a demand for tax!
Have you heard that the government is thinking of ending the decennial census as with all the data on computers they do not think it necessary. An obvious loss for family historians, but there arguement is, quite rightly, that they do not take a census just so our great grandchildren can discover our home address etc 100 years hence. But considering each census there is always some surprise data I would still consider it to contain a lot of information that wasnt otherwise available.