How life has changed in Fenland according to Census 2021
The population of Fenland rose to over 100,000 in the last 10 years according to new statistics.
Latest data from the Office of National Statistics shows that between the census held in 2011 and that of 2021 the number of people living in our district rose by just under eight per cent from just under 95,300 to 102,500.
The rise was a similar rate to the overall population increase across the East of England but was higher than the national average for England.
In 2021, Fenland was home to around 1.3 people per football pitch-sized piece of land, compared with 1.2 in 2011. This area was among the lowest 20% for population density across English local authority areas at the last census.
At the same time the average in Fenland increased by one year from 43 to 44.
Fenland's median age - the age of the person in the middle of the group - was higher than in the East of England as a whole (42) and also higher than that of England (40).
The largest increase was in the number of people aged 50 to 64, which rose by 13.8% that's up 2,600 compared to 2011, but the number residents aged 35 to 49 fell by 1,550 (7.7%).
In the latest census, around 87,800 Fenland residents said they were born in England. This represented 85.7% of the local population. The figure has risen from just over 85,100 in 2011, which at the time represented 89.4% of Fenland's population.
Lithuania was the next most represented, with just over 3,500 Fenland residents reporting this country of birth (3.4%). This figure was up from around 1,700 in 2011, which at the time represented 1.7% of the population of Fenland.
The number of Fenland residents born in countries that joined the EU between April 2001 and March 2011 (other than Poland, Croatia, Lithuania and Romania) rose from around 1,100 in 2011 (1.1% of the local population) to just under 2,300 in 2021 (2.2%).
Fenland saw England's second-largest percentage-point fall in the share of people aged 16 years and over who were married (or in a civil partnership) (from 50.3% in 2011 to 45.4% in 2021).
England's largest decrease in the percentage of people aged 16 years and over who were married (or in a civil partnership) occurred in West Lancashire (from 50.2% to 45.2%).
Across the East of England, the percentage of people aged 16 years and over who were married (or in a civil partnership) fell from 50.1% to 47.2%, while the percentage in King’s Lynn and West Norfolk (the local authority area that shares the largest boundary with Fenland) fell from 53.1% to 48.8%.
These figures include same-sex marriages and opposite-sex civil partnerships in 2021, neither of which were legally recognised in England and Wales in 2011. Same-sex marriages have been legally recognised in England and Wales since 2014 and opposite-sex civil partnerships have been recognised since 2019.
