The count was based on questionnaires completed by households on Sunday, March 21, 2021 and is an increase of 6.3% compared to 2011 of 56,075,912 – an additional 3.5 million people. That means the UK’s wider population is almost 67 million, after adding the results of last month’s census for Northern Ireland, which showed a population of 1.9 million, and the latest estimate for Scotland, 5.47 million. The total is set to break the 70 million mark over the next five years, but population growth has slowed slightly over the past decade. The results of the census come against the backdrop of Brexit – which has reduced migration – and the coronavirus pandemic, which has increased mortality in 2020 and 2021. The latest UK population estimate made by the Office for National Statistics was 67.1 million in mid-2020. There are 1.4 million more households than in 2011. The snapshot of the people of England and Wales was unveiled at St Alban’s CE Elementary School in Havant, after students won a “measurement” competition. It showed once again how the population is aging. In 2011, 9.2 million people were 65 and over, an increase of almost 1 million from 2001, when the number was 8.3 million. By 2021 it had risen again to 11.1 million, more than a sixth of the total. The population over the age of 90 exceeded the limit of half a million, reaching 527,900 people. The under-15s are a declining percentage of the population, with 10.4 million outnumbered the over-65s in the last decade. The number of infants aged four and under was one of the few categories where the population declined. The areas with the largest population aged 65 and over remained in North Norfolk, while the area with the most under-15s was Barking and Dagenham, a relatively high-immigration area in east London. Nearly one in four people (23.5%) in Richmondshire, Yorkshire are 65 and older, up from 13.3% in 1981. Milton Keynes’s population over 65 has more than tripled over the same period to 39,500. Overall, the United Kingdom remains the third largest country in Europe after Germany, which had 83.2 million people on January 1, 2021, and France, which had 67.7 million people on the same date, according to Eurostat. There are 11.1 million more people living in England and Wales than in 1981 (48.5 million). With 434 inhabitants per square kilometer, England is now ranked as the second most populous country in Europe after the Netherlands (507 people per square kilometer), according to Eurostat data. Tower Hamlets is the most densely populated area, with 15,695 people per square kilometer, while the Eden Hills, which cover parts of the Lake District, Pennines and Yorkshire Dales, and Powys in Wales, were the least densely populated, with 26 regular residents per square kilometer. Census data is crucial for national and local government decisions on the allocation of funds for health and education, guiding sites and targets for housing construction and projecting future social care needs. It is the 22nd complete census in Great Britain. The first was in 1801. The project took place every 10 years except World War II. Statisticians consider the first modern census to take place in 1841, when the head of each household was given a form to complete on a specific day on behalf of everyone in the household. Subscribe to the First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7 p.m. BST This may be the last inventory of its kind. The ONS has previously said it is looking at cheaper ways to collect data for the entire population, combining administrative data such as GP, tax and driving license records with regular population surveys. The government has stated that “its ambition is for post-2021 censuses to be conducted using other data sources and to provide more timely statistical information.” ONS Deputy National Statist Pete Benton stressed the need for more up-to-date population assessment methods, noting that the data was already outdated. “People continue to move into their homes, some will have left the country, others will have arrived,” he said. “People will have changed jobs, some of us are now working in offices again, while others continue to work from home.” He said the plan was for “more frequent, relevant and timely statistics that use data from across the government to allow us to understand population change”. More details depicting changes in the nationality, sexual orientation and gender identity, religion, language and education of the people of England and Wales will be published in the autumn. Data on health, housing, unpaid care, disability, work and veterans of the UK Armed Forces will also be released later this year.
