How the population changed in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole: Census 2021

The English region with the largest population increase was the East of England, which grew by around 8.3% or 488,000 more residents. The English region with the smallest increase was the North East, growing by 1.9% or around 50,000 people. In Wales, the population grew by 1.4% or 44,000 people.

In Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, the population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 378,900 in 2011 to 400,300 in 2021. This is lower than the overall increase for England (6.6%), where the population grew by nearly 3.5 million to 56,489,800.

Nearby areas like Eastleigh and Southampton have seen their populations increase by around 8.9% and 5.1%, respectively, while others such as Dorset saw a smaller increase (4.0%) and New Forest saw a decrease of 0.4%.

The largest population increases in the South West have been seen in Tewkesbury and East Devon, where the populations have grown by 15.8% and 13.8%, respectively.

At the other end of the scale, the Isles of Scilly have seen a fall of 4.7%.

With 2021 figures rounded to the nearest 100, measures of change over time for areas with small populations, such as the Isles of Scilly, may be less robust than larger local authority areas.

At 5.7%, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole's population increase is lower than the increase for the South West (7.8%).

Tower Hamlets saw the largest percentage growth in population in England, increasing 22.1% between 2011 and 2021. Dartford was second, increasing 20.0%.

Some local authority areas have seen their populations decline. Kensington and Chelsea had an estimated population of 143,400 in 2021, which was around 15,200 fewer than in 2011 and a decrease of 9.6%.

The total population of local authority areas varies a lot, from Birmingham with around 1,144,900 people to the Isles of Scilly with around 2,100 people. The sizes of these circles are proportionate to the size of the population in each local authority area.

This population pyramid shows the population of males and females in each five-year age group at the time of the 2011 Census.
The largest age group in the South West back then was those aged 45 to 49 years.

More recently, in 2021, the largest age group in the South West was those aged 55 to 59 years.

In England, the largest age group in 2021 was people aged 30 to 34 years.

Overall, in England, there has been an increase of 20.1% in people aged 65 years and over, an increase of 3.6% in people aged 15 to 64 years, and an increase of 5.0% in children aged under 15 years.

This is how Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole compares. There has been an increase of 12.7% in people aged 65 years and over, an increase of 3.1% in people aged 15 to 64 years, and an increase of 6.9% in children aged under 15 years.

The places that have seen the largest increases in the population aged 65 years and over are Milton Keynes in the South East, which has seen 43.6% growth, and Harborough in the East Midlands (38.5%).

The places that have seen the largest increases in the population aged under 15 years are Dartford in Kent, where the size of this age group increased by 31.8% between 2011 and 2021, and Peterborough in the East of England (23.8%).

The places that have seen the largest percentage decrease in the number of children aged under 15 years are Westminster (19.4%) and Kensington and Chelsea (17.8%) in London and Richmondshire in Yorkshire (12.3%).