Published at 11:12, Thursday, 19 July 2012

CUMBRIA’S population went up by more than 12,000 between 2001 and 2011, official figures show.

Carlisle saw the steepest rise and has overtaken South Lakeland as the county’s most populous district.

The Office for National Statistics has just released the first information gleaned from the 2011 Census.

This shows that Cumbria had a population of 499,900 on Census day, up 2.5 per cent from 487,606 at the last census in 2001.

Carlisle’s population jumped by 6.7 per cent from 100,721 to 107,500. Allerdale’s increased by 3.1 per cent from 93,487 to 96,400, Copeland’s 1.8 per cent from 69,342 to 70,600, and Eden’s by 5.7 per cent from 49,770 to 52,600.

Despite this increase, Eden remains the most sparsely-populated district in England with just 25 people per square kilometre. Barrow was the only Cumbrian district where the population fell. Its total declined by 4.0 per cent from 72,001 to 69,100.

The figures also show that Cumbria has fewer youngsters and more older people than the national average.

And while the number of people aged under 44 has fallen since 2001, the number aged 45 and older has risen.

Cumbria County Council leader Eddie Martin said: “The census data crystallises what we already knew.

“We have a faster-than-average ageing population, there are challenges in retaining younger people, we have to compete with cities and urban areas in generating economic growth.

“This new information will allow us to continue to lobby government to get a better deal for rural areas generally and Cumbria in particular.”

The Census also shows that women outnumber men. There were 253,800 females in Cumbria but only 246,100 males.

The trend applies across the county except for Copeland, which has 35,500 males and 35,100 females.

Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk