WILTSHIRE'S population has grown by almost 40,000 people in the last decade. 

The results of the 2021 census show that the population size in Wiltshire has gone up by 8.4 per cent, from around 471,000 in 2011 to 510,400 in 2021.

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.

The older population size in Wiltshire also grew in the last 10 years, growing by 30.5 per cent in people over the age of 65 in the county - higher than England’s average of 20.1 per cent of older people who live in the country.  

In contrast, there was only a 3.6 per cent increase in people aged 15- 64 living in Wiltshire, an increase of just 0.7 per cent in children aged under 15 years.  

Overall, the population size in Wiltshire has increased by 8.4 per cent, to 510,000. 

This is around 39,000 more people than there were in 2011 when there were 471,000 people in Wiltshire. 

The trend falls in line with the surge in people living across England and Wales, as there are now over 3.5 million more people living across the countries, making it the largest census population ever recorded. 

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. 

It also shows the balance of men and women in the area has changed – Wiltshire’s population is now 49.3 per cent male and 50.7 per cent female, meaning there is now a slightly higher proportion of men in the area than 10 years ago. 

Wiltshire Times:

In 2011, people living in Wiltshire were 49.2 per cent male and 50.8 per cent female. 

At 8.4 per cent, this also makes Wiltshire's population increase higher than the increase for the South West (7.8 per cent). 

Wiltshire Times:

In 2021, Wiltshire also ranked ninth for the total population out of 309 local authority areas in England, maintaining the same position it held a decade ago. 

Wiltshire was the 11th least densely populated of the South West's 30 local authority areas, with around one person living on each football pitch-sized area of land.