Key facts and figures about the area | BETA - South Gloucestershire Council

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South Gloucestershire is largely rural in area but most of its population lives within the fringe of Bristol.

Over 40% of South Gloucestershire is covered by the green belt (green space) which surrounds and separates Bristol and Bath. It covers an area of 53,644.7 hectares and has a population of 290,423 as of the 2021 Census.

	South Gloucestershire	England
Population	290,423	59,597,300
Population density	5.4 persons per hectare	3.95 persons per hectare
% Population living in urban areas surrounding Bristol	67.5%
% Population living in market towns	16.7%
% Population living in rural areas	15.8%
Median age	40	40.5
Proportion of Black and Minority Ethnic residents	5% of total population	14% of total population
Non-UK born residents	10.6% of total population	17.4% of population
Unemployment rate	2.2%	3.8%
Average earnings	£31,714	£31,490
Average house price	£300,000	£270,000
Gender wage gap	£6,641	£5,576 (UK)
Proportion of deprived households	47% of total	51.7% of total
Proportion of children in low-income families	8.3%	17.6%

The data for these statistics comes from the 2021 Census, Office for National Statistics (ONS) and South Gloucestershire Economic Briefing.

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Population

South Gloucestershire has seen a 10.5% increase in residents since 2011.

Its growth in population over the last 10 years is higher than all of its neighbouring authorities, Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and Gloucestershire (ONS).

The median age of residents of is 41. Like elsewhere in the country the population is aging.

Since 2011 there has been a 20% increase of people aged 65 years and over. There has been a small decrease in those aged 15 to 19 and a slightly larger (16.5%) decrease in residents aged 40 to 49 since 2011

According to the 2011 census, 5% of the district’s population were of black and minority ethnic origin.

In 2021, 30,643 (10.6%) residents of South Gloucestershire were born outside of the UK.

The top 5 non-UK countries of birth of residents are Poland, India, Romania, Germany and other EU countries (Nomis).

Mid year population estimates

You can find data on our mid year population estimates for:

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Economy

There are over 10,290 enterprises across South Gloucestershire.

This includes a number of large companies in industries such as technology and software development, defence, aviation, shipment, education and hospitality.

2.2% of residents are unemployed. This is lower than the figures for the South West and England where 2.7% and 3.8% are unemployed respectively.

The average annual earnings of a full-time employee in South Gloucestershire are £31,714.

This is slightly more than the average earnings of full-time workers across England which stands at £31,490. (ONS).

Despite full-time workers earning more on average than those in England, the average price of a house in South Gloucestershire is £300,000. The average across England is £270,000.

There is a gender wage gap where female full-time workers earn on average £6,641 less than male full-time workers annually (our economic briefing).

Deprivation

None of South Gloucestershire’s Lower Layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs) rank among the most deprived 10% in England.

However, nearly half of households in South Gloucestershire (47% or 54,400), were deprived in at least one dimension or measure of household deprivation.

The proportion of deprived households is slightly lower than the average for England and Wales which stands at 51.7% (Nomis).

8.3% of children under 16 years of age live in low-income families. The figure for England is 17.6%.

Transport

The major junctions of the M4 and M5 motorways are in South Gloucestershire. Many people use these daily.

The number of bus passenger journeys (per head of population) in 2019 to 2020 was 29.3. The average across England was 72.4 (GOV.UK).

Most residents travel to work via car (57%), 14% cycle, 11% car share, 6% use a bus, 6% walk and 4% use a train. The average time residents spend travelling to work is 30 minutes (Travelwest).