The population of Wales on Census day 2001 was 2.9 million people, an increase of 1 per cent since 1991. Population in Wales has shown small but steady growth over each intercensal period since the war. By 2001 there were over 300,000 more people living in Wales than in 1951.
In 2001 about two thirds of the population of Wales lived in the southern industrialised part of the country, with Cardiff, Swansea and Newport the largest urban areas. The remaining third lived in the mainly rural north and west. Wales is divided into 22 Unitary Authority areas of which Cardiff had the largest population (307,000), followed by Rhonda Cynon Taff (232,000) and Swansea (224,000). Merthyr Tydfil had the fewest residents, 56,000.
A majority of Unitary Authority areas experienced population increases over the decade, with Ceredigion experiencing the largest (14 per cent) followed by Monmouthshire and Powys (both 6 per cent). In contrast, the population of Merthyr Tydfil experienced the largest fall (6 per cent) and there were falls in eight other authorities.
Age
In 2001 the median age of the population in Wales was 38 years, up from 36 in 1991 and 34 in 1981. Three in five people were of working age (males 16 to 64, females 16 to 59), while one in five was over working age and one in five under 16.
Between 1991 and 2001, the number of people over working age increased by nearly 2 per cent while the number of children under the age of 16 decreased by 0.5 per cent. The post-war trend of ageing among the overall population is particularly evident among the very elderly in Wales. The number of people aged 85 or over has grown five-fold over the last half century, reaching 59,000 in 2001.
Among the Unitary Authority areas, Conwy had the highest proportion of people of pensionable age (26 per cent) and Cardiff the lowest (17 per cent). The highest proportion of children was found in Newport (22 per cent), and the lowest in Ceredigion (17 per cent).
Household composition
The 2001 Census recorded 1.2 million households in Wales. Of these, 29 per cent were one person households, compared with 25 per cent in 1991. Just over half of those living alone in 2001 were pensioners (15 per cent of all households).
Twenty eight per cent of households comprised a family with dependent children. Most of these were married couples (17 per cent of all households), although this proportion had declined by 6 percentage points since 1991. By contrast, the proportion of lone parent households with dependent children increased from 5 per cent in 1991 to 7 per cent in 2001. The proportion of cohabiting couples with children (3 per cent) more than doubled over the decade.
Sources: Mid-year population estimates 1981, Office for National Statistics; Revised mid-year population estimates 1991 to 2001, Office for National Statistics; Censuses, 1951 to 2001, Office for National Statistics.
Notes: Census Day: April 29th 2001.
Dependent child : A person in a household aged 0 to 15 or a person aged 16 to 18 who is a full-time student and in a family with parent(s).
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