The population of the Staffordshire Moorlands district has shrunk by 1.3 per cent in the last decade, census data has revealed.

The Office for National Statistics has today published the first set of results from the 2021 Census of England and Wales.

Data shows that the nation's population is now the biggest it has ever been at 59.6 million people.

But with the national growth rate at 6.3 per cent, the population in the Staffordshire Moorlands has actually decreased over the past ten years.

There are now only 95,800 people living in the area, compared to 97,100 in 2011.

Nearby areas like East Staffordshire and Cheshire East have seen their populations increase by around 9.2% and 7.7%, respectively.

The Moorlands is one of only two areas in the whole of the West Midlands to see a population decrease, the other being Newcastle-under-Lyme with a decrease of 0.5%.

The largest population increases in the West Midlands have been seen in Rugby and Wychavon, where the populations have grown by 14.3% and 13.3%, respectively.

The population density of the Moorlands means that there is an average of one person living on every football pitch sized amount of land.

But despite the overall decrease, the Moorlands population is aging quite rapidly. Since 2011 There has been an increase of 22.7% in people aged 65 years and over, a decrease of 8.4% in people aged 15 to 64 years, and a decrease of 5.0% in children aged under 15 years.

National Results

Across the nation the population has increased by 3.5 million people since 2011 - a 6.3 per cent increase.

But that signals a slower rate of growth, with the last census showing a record 7.1 per cent increase from 2001.

The results published today also show that 18.6 per cent of the population is now aged 65 years and over - the highest recorded proportion for England and Wales.

ONS figures also show that 51.0 per cent of the population of England and Wales is female which is a slight rise from 50.8 in 2011.

A record 89 per cent of responses to the census were completed online - with 20 million households surveyed in total.

Added to census figures for Northern Ireland and a 2020 estimate of the Scottish population, there are now 66,966,400 people in the UK.