General Election postal votes
If you have not received your postal vote for the General Election on 4 July 2024, please call us on 01305 838299 so that a replacement can be issued.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) have released the first data sets from Census 2021.
The latest Census shows that there are 169,261 households in Dorset.
A ‘household’ is defined as either one person living alone, or a group of people living at the same address and sharing both cooking facilities and a living room or dining area.
All data that refers to Dorset relates to the Dorset Council area.
This is a 7% increase from the 2011 Census where the total number of households were 158,738.
This is in line with national increases.
Area | Census 2011 | Census 2021 | % change |
---|---|---|---|
Dorset Council | 158,738 | 169,261 | +7.0% |
South West | 2',264,641 | 2,448,881 | +8.0% |
England and Wales | 23,366,044 | 24,783,199 | +6.0% |
31.0% 51,741 (almost one in three) of Dorset’s households are single person households. 41.0% of households in Dorset are two person households.
Three and four person households make up 25.0% or a quarter of all households.
Only 8.0% of Dorset households have more than four people living in them
The data from the Census in 2021 illustrates a higher proportion of two person households in Dorset 41% compared to the national figure of 34% and slightly higher than the South West 37% but otherwise the breakdown in household size is similar.
Household size | Dorset % | South West % | England and Wales % |
---|---|---|---|
1 person | 31.0 | 30.0 | 30.0 |
2 people | 41.0 | 37.0 | 34.0 |
3 people | 14.0 | 15.0 | 16.0 |
4 people | 11.0 | 12.0 | 13.0 |
5 people | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
6 people | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 |
7 people | 0 | 0 | 1.0 |
8 or more people | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Just under one in five (18.0%) of Dorset’s households are lone households where the resident is over 66, this compares to 13.0% for England and Wales and 15.0% for the South West.
65.0% of all households (almost two thirds) contain single families which could constitute a couple living together, a lone parent, a couple with dependent or non-dependent children, this figure is very similar to the South West and England and Wales.
There are 5.0% of multiple family households in Dorset compared to 6.0% regionally and 7.0% in England and Wales.
Household composition | Dorset % | South West % | England and Wales % |
---|---|---|---|
Single person | 31.0 | 30.0 | 30.0 |
Single older person | 18.0 | 15.0 | 13.0 |
Single family | 65.0 | 64.0 | 63.0 |
Multiple family | 5.0 | 6.0 | 7.0 |
The ONS have used a range of other data collected from the Census in 2021 to determine whether a household may include characteristics that could indicate a level of deprivation.
The dimensions of deprivation used to classify households are indicators based on four selected household characteristics:
Half of Dorset’s households are not deprived in any of the dimensions of deprivation which is reflected in the regional figure for the South West too.
Just under a half of all households in England and Wales 48.0% are not deprived in any of the indicators.
35.0% of Dorset’s households are deprived in one of the indicators slightly more than the regional and national figures.
12.0% are deprived in two dimensions and 2.0% in three dimensions which is slightly less than the regional figure and less than the national figure.
0% of households are deprived in all four of the dimensions in Dorset, the South West and England and Wales.
Household deprivation indicator | Dorset % | South West % | England and Wales % |
---|---|---|---|
Household is not deprived in any dimension | 50.0 | 50.0 | 48.0 |
Household is deprived in 1 dimension | 35.0 | 34.0 | 33.0 |
Household is deprived in 2 dimensions | 12.0 | 13.0 | 14.0 |
Household is deprived in 3 dimensions | 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 |
Household is deprived in 4 dimensions | 0 | 0 | 0 |