2021 Census

A census is a count of all people and households in the country that takes place every ten years. It asks people about subjects such as work, health, ethnic background, education and marital status.

The responses build a picture of today’s society which helps central and local government, health authorities, businesses, voluntary sector organisations and communities target resources and plan for years to come.

Census 2021 - first results

All households across Dudley were asked to take part in Census 2021, a once in a decade survey, carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which provides the most accurate estimate of all the people and households in England and Wales.

Carried out in spring 2021, there was a 97 per cent borough response rate to the census.

The first results from Census 2021 are now out and give communities across Dudley a glimpse of how our local population has changed in the past decade.

Released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), they provide estimates of our population, as well as age and sex profiles.

Census 2021 shows the estimated population of Dudley on Census Day, 21 March 2021, was 323,500, a 3.4% increase from the Census 2011 figure of 312,900.

The ONS have now published the main sets of census results, including data on ethnicity, religion, the labour market, education, health and housing. For the first time, this also includes information on armed forces veterans, sexual orientation and gender identity.

For more information about this and future Census results visit the census webpage

2021 Census Results

Summaries of the main census results for Dudley are given below by topic.

The estimated population of Dudley on Census Day, 21 March 2021, was 323,495.
50.8% of the Dudley population is female, 49.2% male.
18.9% were aged under 16, 60.7% were aged 16 to 64 and 20.4% aged 65 and over.
There were an estimated 69 people aged 100 or over.
92.1% of the Dudley population were born in the UK.

82.4% of the Dudley population identified their ethnic group as White English / Welsh / Scottish / Northern Irish / British. The next largest ethnic groups are Pakistani with 4.6% of the population, Indian with 2.4% and Other White with 1.9%.
94.4% of the Dudley population responded that their national identity was British, English or a combination of both.
All adults in 94.5% of Dudley households have English as a main language. 2.3% of households have no people with English as a main language.
95.6% of the Dudley population aged 3 and over have English as their first or preferred language. The next most prevalent preferred languages are Urdu with 0.8% of the population, Panjabi with 0.7% and Polish with 0.5%
49.3% of the Dudley population identified their religion as Christian. The next most prevalent religions are Muslim with 6.2% of the population, Sikh with 1.6% and Hindu with 0.7%. 36% said they had no religion.

As at Census day, 21 March 2021, based on people's assessment of their general state of health from very good to very bad 43.8% of Dudley residents said they were in very good health and a further 35.4% that they were in good health. 4.7% of Dudley residents said they were in bad health and 1.3% that they were in very bad health.
Census 2021 asked people if they had physical or mental health conditions or illnesses lasting or expected to last 12 months or more and if these limited their day-to-day activities; 8.4% of Dudley residents answered that they had a condition and that this limited their day-to-day activities a lot, with a further 10.9% having a condition that limited their activities a little. These two categories combined, 19.3%, meet the definition for measuring disability in line with the Equality Act (2010).
10.3% of Dudley residents aged 5 and over provide unpaid care by looking after, or giving help or support to, people who have long-term physical or mental health conditions or illnesses, or problems related to old age.
The 10.3% providing unpaid care is made up of 4.9% who do so for 19 hours or less per week, 2.2% provide 20 to 49 hours unpaid care a week, and 3.2% 50 hours a week or more.

Of the Dudley population aged 16 and over in employment the week before Census day, 21 March 2021, 29.6% worked part-time (30 hours or less a week) and 70.4% worked full-time (31 hours or more a week).
The three largest occupation groups amongst the Dudley working population were Professional occupations with 16.8%, Skilled trade occupations with 12.4% and Associate professional and technical occupations with 12%.
58.9% of the Dudley population aged 16 and over were Economically active according to Census 2021, which means that between 15 March and 21 March 2021, they were: in employment (an employee or self-employed); or unemployed, but looking for work and could start within two weeks; or unemployed, but waiting to start a job that had been offered and accepted.
41.1% of the Dudley population aged 16 and over were Economically inactive so did not have a job between 15 March to 21 March 2021 and had not looked for work between 22 February to 21 March 2021 or could not start work within two weeks - this group includes people who were retired, some students, those looking after home or family, people who were long-term sick or disabled and some other groups.
Of the Dudley population aged 16 and over in employment the week before Census day 21.7% said they worked mainly from home. The Census is a snapshot in time and Census 2021 took place during a national lockdown when the government advice at the time was for people to work from home (if they could) and avoid public transport, so this figure likely reflects this situation.
57.8% of the Dudley population aged 16 and over in employment the week before Census day travel less than 20km to their place of work.
The most used method of travel to work was driving a car or van as reported by 59% of the Dudley working population, with 5.6% getting to work on foot, 4.9% as a passenger in a car or van and 4.2% by bus, minibus or coach, with 21.7% working mainly from home also being part of this question so indicating no method of transport to work. People who were furloughed (about 5.6 million nationally) were advised to answer the transport to work question based on their previous travel patterns before or during the pandemic, meaning the data may not accurately represent what they were doing on Census Day.

As at Census day, 21 March 2021, 25% of Dudley residents aged 16 and over indicated their highest level of qualification was Level 4 and above; this category includes degree, higher degree, NVQ level 4 to 5, HNC, HND, RSA Higher Diploma, BTEC Higher level and professional qualifications (for example, teaching, nursing, accountancy).
10.8% of Dudley residents aged 16 and over have Level 1 and entry level as their highest level of qualification, 15% have Level 2, 6% have Apprenticeships, 17.2% have Level 3 as their highest qualification level and 2.9% have "other" qualifications such as vocational or work-related qualifications.
23.1% of Dudley residents aged 16 and over indicated they had no qualifications.
Census 2021 shows that 18.9% of Dudley residents aged 5 and over were in full-time education on Census Day, 21 March 2021; this includes schoolchildren and adults in full-time education.

As at Census day, 21 March 2021, almost half (48.4%) of Dudley households lived in semi-detached accommodation, 21.6% of households were in detached accommodation, 15.4% in terraced housing and 12% in purpose-built flats or tenements. The remainder were living in converted or shared buildings, commercial buildings, caravans or other mobile or temporary structures.
Results on household tenure show that most Dudley households owned their accommodation, either outright (37.3%) or with a mortgage or loan (29.1%). 15.4% of households rent from the Local Authority and 12.1% rent from a private landlord or letting agency, with the remainder of households in other social or private rented accommodation or living rent free.
82.8% of Dudley households have central heating on mains or tank/bottled gas only, 6.4% have electric central heating only and 8% have two or more types of central heating. 1.6% of households do not have any form of central heating.
40.7% of Dudley households have use of 1 car or van, 28.7% of households have 2 cars or vans and 10.1% have 3 or more. 20.5% of households have no cars or vans.

On Census Day, 21 March 2021, 8,310 people in Dudley indicated they had previously served in the UK armed forces. This represents 3.2% of the Dudley usual resident population aged 16 and over, compared to 3.8% for England.
Of the UK armed forces veteran’s population in Dudley, 2.3% had served in the regular forces only, 0.7% in the reserve forces only, and 0.1% in both the regular and reserve forces
5.9% of households in Dudley had at least one person who had previously served in the UK armed forces, compared to 7.0% of households in England.

Questions on sexual orientation and gender identity were asked for the first time in Census 2021. These questions were voluntary and only asked of people aged 16 years and over.
90.7% of Dudley residents aged 16 and over identified as straight or heterosexual, 1.2% as gay or lesbian, 0.8% as bisexual and 0.2% as other sexual orientations. 7% of people did not provide an answer to the question.
93.7% of Dudley residents aged 16 and over indicated their gender identity was the same as their sex registered at birth, 0.2% that their gender identity was different from their sex registered at birth but with no specific identity given, with each of the gender identities trans woman, trans man and all other gender identities being 0.1%. 5.9% of people did not provide an answer to the question.

2021 Census Area Profiler

The 2021 Census Area Profiler is an interactive excel-based tool designed to show people the 2021 Census results for an area of their choice, and allow them to compare it to any other area.

The profiler lets you view tables of census results showing the number and percentage of the population across a wide range of topics, such as age, ethnic group, general health, occupation and method of travel to work. There are also charts that show the percentage figures for the two selected areas. The Profiler includes census results for Dudley and other local authorities, but also has a specific Dudley focus, with the user able to choose areas within Dudley Borough for comparisons, such as community forum areas, wards and super output areas.

When you open the profiler there are boxes where you can select your area and comparison area. Help information is also available within the profiler to assist users. Please note that dependent on your version of Excel you may need to accept an "Enable Editing" and/or "Enable Content" message to use the full functionality of the profiler.

To find out which community forum area, ward, lower layer super output area (LSOA) or middle layer super output area (MSOA) an address is located within, and view a map of the area, please use our search facilities.

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2021 Census Area Profiler (XLSM 2.93MB)

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2021 Census profile showing key census results for Dudley Borough compared to those for England (PDF 443.12KB)