The population of Oxford soared by nearly 7 per cent in the last ten years, data from the largest census population ever recorded is revealed.
In 2021, Oxford ranked 122nd for total population out of 309 local authority areas in England, moving up two places in a decade.
During the last ten years, the population size increased by 6.7 per cent from around 151,900 in 2011 to 162,100 in 2021.
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This is higher than the overall increase for England (6.6 per cent), where the population grew by nearly 3.5 million to 56,489,800.
However, Oxford's population increase is slightly lower than the increase for the South East overall (7.5 per cent).
The largest population increases in the South East have been seen in Dartford and Milton Keynes, where the populations have grown by 20 per cent and 15.3 per cent, respectively.
Despite this, Oxford is the fifth most densely populated of the South East's 64 local authority areas, with around 25 people living on each football pitch-sized area of land.
Vale of White Horse and Cherwell have also seen their populations increase, with rises of around 14.8 per cent and 13.5 per cent respectively.
On the other hand, South Oxfordshire saw an increase of 11.1 per cent and West Oxfordshire saw smaller growth (9.0 per cent).
Oxford’s population has also been shown to be an aging one.
There has been an increase of 14.8 per cent in people aged 65 years and over, compared with an increase of 7.1 per cent in people aged 15 to 64 years, and a decrease of 1.1 per cent in children aged under 15 years.
From a national perspective, there were 59,597,300 people living in England and Wales on 21 March 2021, the day of the latest census.
This is over 3.5 million more (6.3 per cent) than in 2011 and is the largest census population ever recorded.
The English region with the largest population increase was the East of England, which grew by around 8.3 per cent or 488,000 more residents.
The English region with the smallest increase was the North East, growing by just 1.9 per cent or around 50,000 people.
In Wales, the population grew by 1.4 per cent or 44,000 people.
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This story was written by Sophie Perry. She joined the team in 2021 as a digital reporter.
You can get in touch with her by emailing: sophie.perry@newsquest.co.uk
Follow her on Twitter @itssophieperry
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