Population around the county

The Office for National Statistics published its estimates of the 2017 resident population of small areas last October.  Key points for Herefordshire include:

• Herefordshire has the fourth lowest population density in England, with 191,000 residents scattered all over its 842 square miles. Over half (100,500; 53%) live in areas defined as ‘rural’, with the majority of these (80,300 people; 42% of the total) in the most rural ‘village and dispersed’ areas.  Just under a third of the population lives in Hereford city (61,400 people), and just under a fifth in one of the three largest market towns of Leominster (12,200), Ross (11,400) and Ledbury (10,100).
• The built-up areas of the county have grown more rapidly than the rural areas during the last two decades: Hereford, Leominster, Ross and Ledbury’s populations have all grown by 10 to 13% since 2001, whilst the rural population has grown by 6%.
• Hereford city has a much younger profile than the county as a whole, with relatively high proportions of young adults and young children. The most rural areas have relatively more people of older working and early retirement age (50-70 year olds). The market towns and other areas (including larger villages like Colwall and Credenhill) have a profile more similar to the county overall.