The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has published the first results from the 2021 Census. This data provides information on the population and the number of households in local authority areas in England and Wales. The census is a survey that is carried out every ten years. It gives us the most accurate estimate of all the people and households in the district.
What the census found
In Harlow, the population size has increased by 13.9%, from around 81,900 in 2011 to 93,300 in 2021. This is higher than the overall increase for England (6.6%), where the population grew by nearly 3.5 million to 56,489,800.
At 13.9%, Harlow's population increase is higher than the increase for the East of England (8.3%).
As of 2021, Harlow is the eighth most densely populated of the East of England's 45 local authority areas, with around 22 people living on each football pitch-sized area of land.
Across the country the population has continued to age. In Harlow, there has been an increase of 9.7% in people aged 65 years and over, an increase of 12.5% in people aged 15 to 64 years, and an increase of 21.0% in children aged under 15 years.
How the population has changed
The ONS have produced some animations looking at which places have seen the biggest increases and decreases in population and how areas like Harlow compare with others.
See how the population has changed in Harlow from the Census 2021 results on the ONS website.
Our reaction to the release of the first results
Councillor Michael Hardware, Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Strategic Growth, said:
“Harlow’s significant population growth over the last decade will be due to several factors including the new housing developments that we now have in the town. The growth demonstrates that Harlow is a welcoming, friendly place in which to live and work, with many new residents moving to the town in recent years. Our planners are currently analysing the new census information, and there will be further releases of data later in the year. The census will not only provide updated population figures, but also important data about our town, our people, and their needs.
“The new data will support our plans to get the right investment and support from government and will help inform the decisions that we and other public services will make in future. Next week we will submit our bid to the Levelling Up Fund to bring more investment into the town and we will continue to look for other opportunities. From 2023 we will be starting our review of the Harlow Local Development Plan and this will set out future growth projections alongside the infrastructure that is required to sustain that.
“Part of our plan is that we have a long-term framework in place for the growth and the regeneration of the town and to ensure that this is sustainable, planned and integrated with the existing town and continue to be underpinned by Gibberd’s New Town principles.”
Further data
You can see the full data set of estimates of the number of people by sex and age for all local authorities in England and Wales on the ONS website.
To explain the data the ONS have published a bulletin on the rounded population and household estimates for England and Wales.
Essex County Council has published some analysis of the 2021 data covering the whole county and showing the change from 2011.
Later releases of results
In autumn to winter 2022 further data will be released by the ONS which will be topic summary results.
A topic summary is a set of data and supporting commentary, grouped by a similar theme. The topics will be:
- demography and migration
- ethnic group, national identity, language, and religion
- health, disability, and unpaid care
- housing
- labour market and travel to work
- sexual orientation and gender identity
- education
- UK armed forces veterans
Details of later releases can be viewed on the proposed outputs and release plans pages on the ONS website.