Grace ClarkeRemember that heavy envelope that fell onto the doormat one day last year? The one that you thought you’d ignore until you found it was, in fact, a legal document, and doing so would result in a hefty fine? Well that was the census, and today we’ve got the results.
The Census is conducted every ten years and is a method of establishing changes within the population, and to help those in charge to discover our local needs. Councillor James Alexander states that “even though these are initial Census figures they still paint a picture of what our local population is compared to the last Census ten years ago” and are thus beneficial in terms of making decisions for the future of the city.
Since 2001, York’s population has increased by 9.2% and now stands at 198,000. This is a relatively steady increase considering it is 2.2% lower than was predicted in 2010. The biggest increase in inhabitants is in 20 – 24 year olds, with an extra 5,500 of them residing in the city. The census has also shown an increase in 60 – 64 year olds, who have risen by 2,800, and 85 plus year olds who have risen by 1,200. Interestingly there was a decrease of 2,600 in 30 – 39 year olds.
This is only some of the information the census has revealed, and the rest of the results will be released sometime between this November and next spring. But, right now it looks like York is becoming the ideal city for students and pensioners.
