Demographics
The 2001 Population Census found that 27,917 people were living in Aston with a population density of 4,185 people per km² compared with 3,649 people per km² for Birmingham. 50.4% of the population was female and 49.6% was male. This was above and below the national and city average respectively.
Aston has an area of 6.4 km²/ 451.5 hectares. Aston is a very diverse community, ethnically, with 70.6% (19,030) of the area's population being of an ethnic minority compared with 29.6% for Birmingham. 36.9% of the population was born outside the United Kingdom, over double the city average of 16.5% and nearly four times the national average of 9.3%. The largest ethnic group was Asian at 49.8%. More specifically, the Pakistani ethnic group was the largest at 27.2%. White British was the second largest ethnic group at 26.00% and Black British was third with 21.51%. The smallest broad ethnic group was Chinese and Other at 2.2%, double the city average of 1.1%. Islam was the most prominent religion in the ward with 44.3% of the ward's population stating themselves as Muslim. Christianity was the second most prominent religion in Aston at 32.4%.
The ethnic make-up of the area drastically changed in the 1950s and 1960s with immigration from the Commonwealth. Most of the immigrants were from the Indian subcontinent, though a significant number were from the Caribbean.
A total 99% of the residents lived in households, above the city average of 98.3% and the national average of 98.2%. 1% lived in communal establishments. There was a total of 9,939 occupied households in Aston at the time of the census resulting in an average of 2.8 people per household, above the city average of 2.5 and the national average of 2.4. 37.7% of households were owner occupied, below the city average of 60.4%. 33.5% of households were rented from Birmingham City Council, above the city average of 19.4%. 454 households were stated as being vacant. 41.7% of the total households were stated as terraced, above the city average of 31.3%. 28.2% of households were stated as purpose built blocks of flats, just over double the national average of 14%.
11.6% of the population was of a pensionable age, below the city average of 16.7% and the national average of 18.4%. 57.7% were of a working age, below both the city and national average. The largest age group in the ward was 25-44 at 28.1%, compared with the city average of 28.3%. This age group is also the largest for Birmingham and the country.
46.7% of the residents were in full-time employment, below the city average of 59.9% and the national average of 61%. At 20.6%, Aston had an above average unemployment rate with the city average being 9.5% and the national average 5%. 35% were in long term unemployment, below the city average of 36.3% but above the national average of 30.3%. 20.2% had never worked. The manufacturing industry provided the most employment to the ward at 18.2%.
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