Dorset - Demography

Demography

The 2001 Census records Dorset's population as 692,712. This consisted of 390,980 for the non-metropolitan county (not including Bournemouth and Poole), 163,444 for the unitary authority of Bournemouth and 138,288 for the unitary authority of Poole. In 2009 it was estimated that the population had risen by around 2.5% to 710,100: 404,000 in the non-metropolitan county and 164,900 and 141,200 in Bournemouth and Poole respectively. The South East Dorset conurbation which comprises Poole, Bournemouth and Christchurch contains 62% of the population; the next largest urban area is Weymouth. The remainder of the county is largely rural with a relatively sparse population.

Dorset's population has a high proportion of older people and a lower than average proportion of young people: 26.7% are of retirement age, significantly higher than the England and Wales average of 19.5%, and 16.8% are less than 15 years old, lower than the England and Wales average of 18.7%. The working age population (females between 16 and 59 and males between 16 and 64) is lower than average at 56.5%. Average life expectancy in the county is 83.4 years for females and 79.3 years for males. This compares favourably with the averages for Great Britain of 81.6 and 77.3 years respectively. Around 97.93% of Dorset's population are of white ethnicity, 74.38% of the population are Christian and 15.94% say they are not religious.

The county has low birth rates at 9.1 births per 1,000 in 2010 compared to the England and Wales average of 13.1 per 1,000. It has a higher than average mortality rate at 11.6 deaths per 1,000 population (8.9 for England and Wales). In 2010 deaths exceeded births in the non-metropolitan county by 1,028; however between 1991 and 2010, more people moved into the county than out, and this contributed to an overall growth of the population by 12.2% (9.1% for England and Wales). This rate of growth is set to continue; a 12.7% population growth is predicted between 2008 and 2033. The unitary authorities of Bournemouth and Poole followed a similar pattern and only a net gain of migrants prevented a decline in the population. However, in Bournemouth in 2007, births began to exceed deaths and in 2010 there were 224 more births than deaths. Between 1998 and 2004 Poole borough experienced a decline in its population when there was a fall in the level of net migration. The trend has since been reversed and a continued increase in Poole's population has been predicted.