Walsall’s population grew by 5.5% in 10 years, according to the data from the last Census.
In 2011, the number of people living in the borough was 269,300 and in 2021, when the last Census was completed, it was 284,100.
The population rise was similar to the overall population of the West Midlands, which was 6.2%, but smaller when compared to the 6.6% increase in the overall population of England.
Data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the area was among the top 25% most densely populated English local authority areas, with about 19.5 people per football pitch-sized piece of land, compared with 18.5 in 2011.
Walsall also has a slightly lower age population: the average age of Walsall decreased by one year, from 39 to 38 years of age compared to the last Census. This is compared to the average age of 40 years in both the West Midlands and England as a whole.
The Census data also showed the number of people aged 50 to 64 years rose by about 6,300 (13.5%), while the number of residents in the borough between 35 and 49 years fell by just over 1,800 (3.3%).
The borough saw the West Midlands’ second-largest percentage-point rise in the proportion of people aged 16 years and over who had never been married or in a civil partnership, up from 32.9% in 2011 to 37.5% in 2021. This was second only to Dudley, which saw the proportion increase from 31.2% to 35.9%.
The figures include same-sex marriages and opposite-sex civil partnerships in 2021, neither of which was legally recognised in England and Wales in 2011.
In Walsall, the percentage of people who did not identify with at least one UK national identity increased from 4.5% in 2011 to 8.1% in 2021. During the same period, the percentage in nearby Lichfield increased from 2.0% to 2.6%.
The percentage of people who identified with a UK and non-UK national identity in Walsall increased from 0.5% to 1.2%, while the percentage of people who identified as “British only” increased from 18.3% to 56.5%. Those identifying as “English” and “British” rose to 15.1% in the last Census compared to 7.7% in the 2011 one, while those identifying as “English only” fell to 18.5% compared to 68.2% in the 2011 Census.
The ONS says in the last Census, “British” was moved to the top response option, which could have influenced how people described their national identity.
Other data from the 2021 Census:
- The number of people renting homes privately rose to 16.3% from 11.7% in 2011.
- 4% of people described themselves as “white British”, down from 78.9% in 2011.
- 7% of Walsall residents described their ethnic group as “Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh”, up from 15.2% in 2011, while 4.6% identified their ethnic group within the “Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African” category, up from 2.4% in the previous Census.
- The percentage of people who identified their ethnic group within the “Mixed or Multiple” category increased from 2.7% in 2011 to 3.3% in 2021.
- 4% (about 239,700) Walsall residents said they were born in England, down from about 89% of the local population in 2011.
- 4% (just over 9,600) said they were born in India – up from 2.8% in 2011, while about 2.4% (6,900) were born in Pakistan, an increase from 2.0% in 2011.
- The number of people born in Poland stood at 1.3% in 2021, up from 0.6% in 2011, while residents born in Bangladesh rose slightly from 0.7% to 0.9% between the two Censuses.
To find out more information about the Census data, visit: https://www.ons.gov.uk/visualisations/censusareachanges/E08000030/
Written by Jayne Howarth