2011 UK census - results published yesterday

Every 10 years the country undertakes the Census, where each household is expected to return a form detailing who lives in the house and information about them. This information is the used to inform us about the country, how it is changing and what we all need to help the run successfully. Because there are so many census forms and so much data to collect, it takes a long time for the information to be processed and published, but yesterday saw the release of the 2011 census information. It has told us a lot about the changes that have taken place over the last 10 years since the 2001 census. This link  will take you to an interesting article about some of those changes, but here are some facts taken from the published results:

1. The population has risen to 56.1 million, an increase of 7.6% over the past 10 years
2. 1 in 6 people are aged 65 or over. This is a figure that is increasing quickly and is clear evidence of an ageing population
3. There are half a million more women than men in the country - this could be because women live longer or just that women are better at filling n forms than men.
4. The average number of people per house is 2.4 (this compares to 4.3 in 1911)
5. Manchester was one of the fastest growing places in the country and now has 500,000 people living there. The authorities there are pleased about this as it means more funds and they thought they didn't have enough people in the last census.
6. The average age of a person in Britain is 39 (in 1911 the figure was 25, showing just how much longer we are living now)
7. In 1911 there were 13,000 people aged 90+ in Britain, in 2001 this figure had risen to 340,000 and now, in 2011 it has shot up to 430,000
8. London is easily the most crowded part of the country, with 5200 people per square kilometre. The rest of the country averages out at 321 people per sq.km.