Sunderland population is getting older

Figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show there were 56,200 people aged 65 and over living in the city on census day – March 21 2021 – up from 46,793 in 2011.

That means the proportion of over-65s in the area rose over the last decade – from 17% to 20.5% of the population.

The figures also show there were 91,700 people aged 29 and under living in the area, accounting for 33.4% of the population – down from 99,307 (36%) in 2011.

Of them, 29,000 were under the age of 10.

This trend is reflected across England and Wales as a whole, where the population is ageing.

There were 11.1 million over-65s in 2021 – 18.6% of the population – up from 9.2 million in 2011 (16.4%) and 7.3 million (15.0%) 40 years ago.

The ONS say more data from the 2021 census will be published in stages over the next two years including figures on ethnicity, religion, the labour market, education and housing plus.

The Census, which is used to understand how the UK's population changes over time, also shows the balance of men and women across the country.

Earlier figures show that, in Sunderland, 48.5% of the population was male and 51.5% was female last year – compared to 48.6% and 51.4% respectively 10 years ago.

They also showed that 274,200 people were living in the area – down slightly from 275,506 in 2011.