Northumberland population is getting older

Figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show there were 81,600 people aged 65 and over living in the area on census day – March 21 2021 – up from 63,304 in 2011.

That means the proportion of over-65s in the area rose over the last decade – from 20% to 25.5% of the population.

The figures also show there were 93,800 people aged 29 and under living in the area, accounting for 29.3% of the population – down from 100,900 (31%) in 2011.

Of them, 30,900 were under the age of 10.

This trend is reflected across England and Wales as a whole, where the population is ageing.

There were 11.1 million over-65s in 2021 – 18.6% of the population – up from 9.2 million in 2011 (16.4%) and 7.3 million (15.0%) 40 years ago.

The ONS say more data from the 2021 census will be published in stages over the next two years including figures on ethnicity, religion, the labour market, education and housing plus.

The Census, which is used to understand how the UK's population changes over time, also shows the balance of men and women across the country.

Earlier figures show that, in Northumberland, 48.8% of the population was male and 51.2% was female last year – around the same proportion as 10 years ago.

They also showed that 320,600 people were living in the area – up slightly from 316,028 in 2011.