The Office for National Statistics (ONS) have published further results from the 2021 Census, helping us to better our understanding of the Somerset population. The latest results reveal insights into living arrangements, marital trends, and inward migration.
It should be remembered that the 2021 Census is a snapshot of the population on 21st March 2021, a time during which coronavirus restrictions were in place. These restrictions will likely have impacted on living arrangements for certain groups – such as university students – and will therefore have an impact on the census results.
Legal partnership status
The proportion of adults in Somerset who have never married and never registered a civil partnership has increased since 2011. The 2021 census shows that this group accounts for 31% of adults in Somerset. The figure for 2011 was 27.8%. Conversely, the proportion of adults in Somerset who are married has decreased, although this remains the largest group, accounting for 48.6% of adults in Somerset.
There are now over 1,000 residents of Somerset who are in a registered civil partnership, an increase of nearly 50% from 2011.
Living arrangements
The 2021 census shows a significant increase in the number of adults in Somerset who are cohabiting but have never married or civil partnered. There are now nearly 70,000 Somerset residents in this living arrangement, comprising nearly 15% of the adult population and representing an increase of over 17,000 since 2011.
Household composition
Numbers of single-family households in Somerset with all residents aged 66 years or older have increased by over 7,500 since 2011. This is the largest increase of any household type. The next largest increase is amongst one-person households aged 66 years or older, which have increased by over 5,000 in 10-years since 2011.
These figures are illustrative of the ageing nature of the Somerset population. Combined, these household types comprise over 71,000 households in Somerset with all residents aged 66 or older; this represents nearly 3 in 10 households in Somerset.
Country of birth
8.5% of Somerset residents on census day in 2021 were born outside of the UK. This is an increase on the 5.9% born outside the UK at the 2011 census. It should be noted that there have been some significant events in the interim period – notably the UK leaving the European Union, and the COVID-19 pandemic – and the census figures are not able to tell the story of any fluctuations in the years between censuses.
European countries account for over half of all Somerset residents born outside the UK. Poland is the most common non-UK country of birth for Somerset residents, with 1.3% of Somerset residents having been born there. This is followed by Romania, which accounts for 0.75% of Somerset residents.
The biggest change over the 10 years since 2011 has been the number of Somerset residents who were born in Romania. There are nearly 4,000 more Somerset residents in 2021 who were born in Romania; a large increase from the 377 recorded at the 2011 census. This increase reflects a national rise of over 500% since 2011 in the number of residents born in Romania. The increase in Somerset has been greater than the national average over this period, which may be in part linked to the increased workforce at Hinkley Point C.
Armed forces veterans
The 2021 Census reveals that there are 27,902 armed forces veterans living in Somerset. This is the first time that this information has been asked in the census.
The highest number of veterans live in the South Somerset district area, with 9,854, followed by Somerset West and Taunton with 7,923. Information on veterans is not currently available at any geography smaller than district level.
In 2014 14.9% of Somerset households were estimated to be in fuel poverty. - Fuel poverty