The exam question this morning is how much do we know about our local community? The data from the 2021 Census is becoming available, and it shows how the constituency of Ashford is not only growing but changing.
To start with the basics, there are 51,400 households, with a population of 127,300. Of the households, 26% are one-person, 31% are families with dependent children, 39% are other single-family households, and 4% are multiple-family households without children.
And where do all these people come from? In Ashford 86% of the population were born in the UK, 4% in EU countries and 9% in the rest of the world. That 86% figure is higher than the number in England and Wales as a whole, and higher than the South-East of England.
A similar finding emerges from the question about ethnicity, and the voluntary question asked about religion. 88% identified themselves as White, which compares with the national figure of 82%. 6% identified as Asian, compared with 9% nationally, and 3% as Black, compared with 4%.
On the question of religion, which 6% declined to answer, Ashford produces an interesting response, in that a slightly higher percentage than average describe themselves as Christians, at 47%, but also a higher percentage (41%) say they have no religion, which is significantly higher than the national figure of 37%.
The difference comes in the number describing themselves as having another religion, which is 11% in the whole country, while only 6% here in Ashford.
All these figures are not only fascinating but essential in planning public services for the future. There is so much information in the Census, which is only taken every ten years, that it does take a couple of years to break down into its individual components. I will report back on further details as they emerge.