Area type
Unitary Authority
Population Density
4,287
Population growth
-0.9%
Gender ratio
1.00 male to female
english main language
81%
birth rate
13.1
death rate
8.0
Major religion
44% Other
Urbanisation
100%
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The population of Reading is 173,170 according to mid-2021 population figures published by the ONS. Reading's population growth rate between mid-2020 and mid-2021 was -0.9% per year. Reading covers an area of 40 square kilometres (16 square miles) and has a population density of 4,287 people per square kilometre (km2), based on the latest population estimates taken in mid-2021.
According to the latest 2021 census, the population in Reading is predominantly white (67%), with non-white minorities representing the remaining 33% of the population.
The median average age in Reading in 2021 was 35.3, with over 18s representing 82.2% of the population. The sex ratio was 99.7 males to every 100 females. Compare average age by area.
In 2021, the urban population of Reading was approximately 155,230 or 100%, while the rural population was around 468 or 0%.
The largest religious group in Reading is Others who account for 44% of the population.
English is spoken as the main language by 81.1% of people in Reading, and spoken either well or very well by 16% of the population. 2.5% reported having poor English language skills, and the remaining 0.6% spoke no English at all.
Main page: Reading Population
The population of Reading is 173,170 according to mid-2021 population figures published by the ONS. In the year between mid-2020 and mid-2021, the population in Reading grew by an estimated 12,833 people, and in the ten years before mid-2021, the population grew by .
Reading's population growth rate between mid-2020 and mid-2021 was -0.9%, which is 2.0% lower than the average population growth rate in Reading for the ten years before mid-2021 (1.1%).
Reading covers an area of 40 square kilometres (16 square miles) and has a population density of 4,287 people per square kilometre (km2), based on the latest population estimates taken in mid-2021. That figure has by people per km2 over the past decade.
According to mid-year population estimates published by the ONS in 2019, males account for 49.9% of Reading's 173,170 population, while females made up 50.1% of the total.
The sex ratio (the number of males for each female in a population) was 99.749 males to every 100 females in 2021. In England as a whole, the gender ratio was 96 males to every 100 females in 2021.
Age statistics collected by the ONS show the adult population of Reading, that is how many people there are over the age of 18, is 142,344.
Reading's age structure shows the working-age population to be 121,244 which is 70.0% of the population. People under the age of 16 represent 17.8% of the population, and over 65s represent 12.2% of the population. The percentage of the population that is of working-age has decreased over the last 10 years from to .
Reading's age pyramid shows how the population is distributed by age and gender.
The median average age of someone in Reading was 35.3 years in 2019.
Of the Reading population over the age of 90, girls outnumber boys by 2.0 to 1.
The life expectancy of someone born today in Reading is 81 years. Split by gender, a girl born today in Reading has a life expectancy of 82 years, and a boy has a life expectancy of 79 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 Reading has risen by 2 years over the past decade, from a life expectancy of 79 years to a life expectancy of 81 years. In England as a whole, life expectancies have risen by 3 years.
Age | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 00-01 | 79.0 | 82.3 | 80.7 |
| 01-04 | 78.5 | 81.6 | 80.1 |
| 05-09 | 74.5 | 77.6 | 76.1 |
| 10-14 | 69.5 | 72.6 | 71.1 |
| 15-19 | 64.5 | 67.6 | 66.1 |
| 20-24 | 59.6 | 62.7 | 61.2 |
| 25-29 | 54.7 | 57.8 | 56.3 |
| 30-34 | 49.8 | 52.9 | 51.3 |
| 35-39 | 45.0 | 48.0 | 46.5 |
| 40-44 | 40.3 | 43.2 | 41.8 |
According to the latest 2021 census, the population in Reading is predominantly white (67.1%), with non-white minorities representing the remaining 32.9% of the population.
Asian people were the largest minority group in Reading accounting for 17.7% of the population.
12,532 or 7% of the Reading population are black according to the latest 2021 census.
In England more broadly the portion of the population that is white is 81%. 10% are Asian and 4% 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').
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According to the latest 2021 census, the most populous religious group within Reading is Others, accounting for 44.0% of the population.
Reading has a Muslim population of 15,481 which is 8.9% of the population.
Compared to England as a whole, in England circa 46% of the population is Christian, 7% 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 2023. Data sources: ONS Local statistics