Census information

Census 2021

The census happens every ten years and gives us a picture of all the people and households in England and Wales. Census day was on Sunday 21 March 2021. It is run by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The census asked questions about you, your home and the people who live in it. In doing so, it helps to build a detailed picture about us and the society we live in at a point in time. It helps public bodies to decide how to plan and fund services in your area. The results from the census provide information on people, households, identity, housing, work, education and health.

In England and Wales, the size of the usual resident population on census day was estimated at 59.6 million. An increase of more than 3.5 million (6.3%) since the last census in 2011.

The population of Derby on census day was estimated to be 261,400. An increase of 5.1% from around 248,800 in 2011. The population in Derby increased by a smaller percentage compared to the overall population in the East Midlands (7.7%).

Key facts from the census include:

There were 105,700 households estimated in Derby (an increase from 102,300 in 2011).
20% of people in Derby were aged 15 years and under, 63.7% were aged 16 to 64 years and 16.4% were aged 65 years and over.
78.7% of Derby residents reported their country of birth as England (a decrease from 84.0% in 2011).
73.8% of people in Derby identified their ethnic group within the ‘White’ category (a decrease from 80.3% in 2011). 15.6% within the ‘Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh’ category (an increase from 12.5% in 2011).

(Data is sourced from the ONS Census 2021 topic summaries, articles and tables)

There is more information on the census results for Derby on the Info4Derby website.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released a number of products to explore the census results including:

Census 2021 - Information and resources on the 2021 census.
Area Profile – Derby area profile produced by NOMIS (Official Census and Labour Market Statistics)
Census Maps – ONS mapping service to explore areas and topics within the census.