Area type
County
Population Density
432
Population growth
0.6%
Gender ratio
0.96 male to female
english main language
97%
birth rate
10.5
death rate
10.7
Major religion
62% Christian
Urbanisation
74%
View trend
View trend
View breakdown
The population of Essex is 1,497,759 according to mid-2020 population figures published by the ONS. Essex's population growth rate between mid-2019 and mid-2020 was 0.6% per year. Essex covers an area of 3,464 square kilometres (1,338 square miles) and has a population density of 432 people per square kilometre (km2), based on the latest population estimates taken in mid-2020.
According to the latest 2011 census, the population in Essex is predominantly white (94%), with non-white minorities representing the remaining 6% of the population.
The median average age in Essex in 2019 was 522.7, with over 18s representing 81.0% of the population. The sex ratio was 95.7 males to every 100 females. Compare average age by area.
In 2011, the urban population of Essex was approximately 1,032,982 or 74%, while the rural population was around 360,605 or 26%.
The largest religious group in Essex is Christians who account for 62% of the population.
English is spoken as the main language by 97.0% of people in Essex, and spoken either well or very well by 3% of the remaining population. 0.4% reported having poor English language skills.
Main page: Essex Population
The population of Essex is 1,497,759 according to mid-2020 population figures published by the ONS. In the year between mid-2019 and mid-2020, the population in Essex grew by an estimated 8,570 people, and in the ten years before mid-2020, the population grew by 101,160.
Essex's population growth rate between mid-2019 and mid-2020 was 0.6%, which is 0.2% lower than the average population growth rate in Essex for the ten years before mid-2020 (0.8%).
Essex covers an area of 3,464 square kilometres (1,338 square miles) and has a population density of 432 people per square kilometre (km2), based on the latest population estimates taken in mid-2020. That figure has increased by 29 people per km2 over the past decade.
According to mid-year population estimates published by the ONS in 2019, males account for 48.9% of Essex's 1,497,759 population, while females made up 51.1% of the total.
The sex ratio (the number of males for each female in a population) was 95.73 males to every 100 females in 2011. In England as a whole, the gender ratio was 98 males to every 100 females in 2011.
Age statistics collected by the ONS show the adult population of Essex, that is how many people there are over the age of 18, is 1,213,669.
Essex's age structure shows the working-age population to be 903,757 which is 60.3% of the population. People under the age of 16 represent 19.0% of the population, and over 65s represent 20.7% of the population. The percentage of the population that is of working-age has decreased over the last 10 years from 62.9% to 58.7%.
Essex's age pyramid shows how the population is distributed by age and gender.
The median average age of someone in Essex was 522.7 years in 2019. Split by gender, the average female age is 534.7 years, and the average male is 510.1 years.
Of the Essex population over the age of 90, girls outnumber boys by 2.1 to 1.
The life expectancy of someone born today in Essex is 82 years. Split by gender, a girl born today in Essex has a life expectancy of 83 years, and a boy has a life expectancy of 80 years. Compare life expectancy by area.
As a comparison, in England as a whole, current life expectancy at birth is 81 years, for females that rises to 83 years and for males it falls to 79 years.
The life expectancy for someone born in Essex has risen by 2 years over the past decade, from a life expectancy of 79 years to a life expectancy of 82 years. In England as a whole, life expectancies have risen by 3 years.
Age | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 00-01 | 79.8 | 83.3 | 81.6 |
| 01-04 | 79.2 | 82.6 | 80.9 |
| 05-09 | 75.2 | 78.6 | 76.9 |
| 10-14 | 70.2 | 73.6 | 71.9 |
| 15-19 | 65.2 | 68.7 | 67.0 |
| 20-24 | 60.3 | 63.7 | 62.0 |
| 25-29 | 55.5 | 58.8 | 57.2 |
| 30-34 | 50.7 | 53.9 | 52.3 |
| 35-39 | 45.9 | 49.0 | 47.5 |
| 40-44 | 41.1 | 44.2 | 42.7 |
According to the latest 2011 census, the population in Essex is predominantly white (94.3%), with non-white minorities representing the remaining 5.7% of the population.
Asian people were the largest minority group in Essex accounting for 2.5% of the population.
18,709 or 1% of the Essex population are black according to the latest 2011 census.
In England more broadly the portion of the population that is white is 85.4%. 7.8% are Asian and 3.5% are Black.
Estimates of personal wellbeing in the UK are published by the ONS annually, with scores for anxiety, happiness, life satisfaction, and feeling that life is worthwhile. Overall scores are based on surveying a representative sample of the population and are scored out of 10 (.e.g for happiness 0 is 'not at all happy' and 10 is 'completely happy').
Levels of reported Anxiety in Essex were 3.0 in 2012 and 3.1 in 2021. In the rest of England levels of Anxiety are currently 3.1.
Reported levels of Happiness in 2021 were 7.5, and 7.5 in 2012. In England, the average happiness indicator is currently 7.5. Of the 363 areas in England, Essex is the 169 th happiest area in England.
Life satisfaction scores for 2021 are 7.7 and were 7.5 in 2012. For the feeling that things done in life are worthwhile the 2021 level is 7.9 and was 7.7 in 2012.
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According to the latest 2011 census, the most populous religious group within Essex is Christians, accounting for 61.8% of the population.
Essex has a Muslim population of 13,526 which is 0.9% of the population.
Compared to England as a whole, in England circa 59% of the population is Christian, 5% is Muslim, 2% is Hindu, and Buddhists, Sikhs and Jews each is around 1%. The remainder is split between people with no religion and those who decided not to identify a religion.
Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2021. Data sources: ONS Local statistics