Demographics of Wiltshire

Demographics of Wiltshire

Taken from the 2021 Census and other credible sources:

Wiltshire Population

Wiltshire's population and increase since the 2011 census are made up as follows:

There are significant differences in the demography of Wiltshire and Swindon. As an example, rural Wiltshire is in the lowest 15% of population density in the UK, whereas Swindon has 7.2 residents per football-pitch piece of land (up from 6.5 in the 2011 census) making Swindon in the highest 45% population density across the UK.

Young People and Education

• Younger people across Wiltshire experience specific challenges. Children are more likely to be in low-income households and young adults are more likely to be unemployed than the wider population across Wiltshire and Swindon. Relatively high levels of youth unemployment are evident and likely to be linked with low levels of Higher Education participation and low educational attainment of disadvantaged pupils across Wiltshire and Swindon. Both disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils alike are performing worse in Wiltshire and Swindon than across England as a whole on all key GCSE outcomes. More specifically, disadvantaged pupils perform particularly badly across Wiltshire, both relative to non-disadvantaged pupils, and compared to disadvantaged pupils elsewhere in the country.

• Wiltshire has a wider attainment gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils achieving grades 5 and above (32.2%) compared to the national average (27.5%). The attainment gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils achieving grades 4 or above in English and Mathematics GCSEs in Swindon has grown between 2020 and 2022 and is now also above the national average (28.4% versus 27.7%). Both Wiltshire (17.8%) and Swindon (17.6%) also have relatively high levels of pupils with Special Educational Needs compared with the national average (16.3%).

• Nationally, estimates are that approximately 5.9% of children at school attend a private school

Ethnicity

In terms of ethnicity, there were 19 ethnic groups identified across England and Wales for the 2021 census. White (British, English, Welsh, Irish, Scottish and N Irish) made up two groups and across the country the proportion in these groups decreased from 87.5% in 2011 to 80.5% in 2021. The remaining 17 groups all increased in size across the country in 2021. The figures look as follows for Wiltshire and Swindon:

The figures above demonstrate significantly increasing ethnic diversity in Swindon and also highlight the differences in demography across Wiltshire compared with Swindon. Swindon also saw the South West's largest percentage-point rise in the proportion of people who did not identify with any national identity associated with the UK (from 8.6% in 2011 to 13.6% in 2021). When put together with the data on ethnicity and country of birth, this further reflects increasing diversity in Swindon.

Deprivation

More than 15,000 children are living in poverty in Wiltshire, representing 19.4% of those age 16 and under in the county. This figure is lower than 2014/15 but shows only a marginal improvement. While deprivation levels are relatively low overall in Wiltshire and Swindon, there are pockets of deprivation, with 28 LSOA neighbourhoods (20 in Swindon and eight in Wiltshire) ranked among the most deprived 20% in England. These communities are likely to be particularly vulnerable to the impacts of the rising cost of living. Relatively high levels of personal debt, with average debt levels per head higher in both Swindon (£737) and Wiltshire (£681) than on average across the South West (£558) and England (£576) add to deprivation.

The fuel costs for accessing services are likely to be greater in Wiltshire as it is a largely rural county and generally experiences longer travel times to key services than the national average. 11 areas in rural Wiltshire rank among the most deprived 1% in England on the Indices of Deprivation 2019 Geographical Barriers domain (which measures average road distance to four key services.

The median school in Wiltshire has 14% of its pupils entitled to free schools meals.

Social Mobility for Young People

The University of Exeter study covering Somerset, Devon and Cornwall shows a striking lack of social mobility for young people and this can also be seen in Wiltshire and Swindon, both of whom have lower proportions of pupils from state schools entering Higher Education (39.4% and 30.7%, respectively) than the national average (40.3%). Tidworth has the lowest rate in Wiltshire with only 21.6% of pupils going on to Higher Education.