Lancashire Population Figures from the 2001 Census

The National Context

The population of the United Kingdom on Census day 2001 was 58,789,194, an increase of 17% since 1951. The rise is smaller than the average growth within the European Union (23%) and considerably smaller than the USA (80%) and Australia (133%). More recently, over the past 20 years the UK population has grown by 4.3%.

The 2001 Census figures revealed that in the UK there are fewer men than women at all ages over 21. For the first time, people 60 and over (21%) form a larger part of the population than children under 16 (20%). There has also been a big increase in the number of people aged 85 and over who now account for over 1.1 million or 1.9% of the population.

Table 1 reveals that 83.6% of the population of the UK live in England with the remainder split between Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland.

At the regional level there have been big variations with the North East and North West regions experiencing a decline in population while the South West, East and South East have seen population growth of 10% or more. In Wales the population grew by 3% over the past 20 years whilst in Scotland there was a decline of 2%. In Northern Ireland the population has grown by 9% over the past 20 years and the region has the youngest population in the UK with children under 16 representing 24% of the population compared with 20% in the UK as a whole.

The Lancashire Perspective

Table 2 details population changes in Lancashire between 1981 and 2001. The 12-District Lancashire NUTS-3 area recorded a 3.8% population increase over the period, which was in contrast to the overall decline in the North West of -3.6%. The two unitary Authorities of Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool also recorded declining populations of -3.6% and -4.6% respectively.

Burnley District saw its population by -3.5%, but in contrast, all the other 11 Lancashire Districts recorded population increases. Chorley District saw its population increase by 8,300 or 9.0%, whilst strong growth was also recorded in Lancaster with an increase of 8,700 or 6.9%. South Ribble and Wyre Districts were also areas of strong population growth.

In comparison to most of the Central and Northern areas of Lancashire the East Lancashire area was one of negative or limited growth over the 20-year period. As already Blackburn with Darwen and Burnley recoded negative growth whilst the population figure in the Ribble Valley remained static. Only minor growth of 1.1% was recorded in Rossendale and of the two remaining East Lancashire Districts, growth of 2.6% in Hyndburn and 3.4% Pendle was in both cases below the average County growth rate.

Table 3 presents population figures by various age-groups for the Districts and Unitary Authorities in Lancashire along with other selected areas.

This page was compiled by Bryan Moulding.

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