The population of Cornwall has increased by almost 40,000 in the last 10 years, recent figures from the 2021 Census have revealed.

According to the ONS there were 59,597,300 people living in England and Wales on 21 March 2021, the day of the latest census.

This is over 3.5 million more (6.3%) than in 2011 and is the largest census population ever recorded.

In Cornwall, the population size has increased by 7.1%, from around 532,300 in 2011 to 570,300 in 2021.

This is higher than the overall increase for England (6.6%), where the population grew by nearly 3.5 million to 56,489,800.

Falmouth Packet: Cornwall saw a population increase since the last Census (PA)Cornwall saw a population increase since the last Census (PA)

Additionally, Cornwall as an authority area ranked third for total population out of 309 local authority areas in England, moving up above Sheffield from the 2011 Census.

How the data was broken down for Cornwall

For age groups in Cornwall there has been an increase of 25.1% in people aged 65 years and over, an increase of 1.7% in people aged 15 to 64 years, and an increase of 4.3% in children aged under 15 years.

Also, due to its size Cornwall is the 12th least densely populated of the South West's 30 local authority areas, with around one person living on each football pitch-sized area of land.

When will further data be released for Census 2021?

Data from the 2021 census for England and Wales will be published in stages over the next two years, the ONS said.

Future releases will include figures on ethnicity, religion, the labour market, education and housing plus – for the first time – information on UK armed forces veterans, sexual orientation and gender identity.

Full data for the Census 2021 can be found on the website here.