BLACK COUNTRY MID-YEAR 2020 POPULATION ESTIMATES

Summary

• Mid-2020 population estimates show there were 1.2m residents in the Black Country – meaning the Black Country target for population growth was achieved 13 years early.
• At the LEP level, the Black Country was the third highest across all the LEPs for the percentage of people aged 0 – 15 years old, at 21.3%. 
• In mid-2020 there were 3,369 people per sq.km in the Black Country area, significantly above the England average of 434.

Full Briefing

• The mid-year 2020 population estimates show there were over 1.2m residents in the Black Country - meaning the Black Country target was reached 13 years early. Since the mid 2019 estimates, the population in the Black Country increased by 0.3% (+3,647 people); England increased by 0.5% to reach a total of 56.55m residents.
• In mid-2020 there were 594,362 male Black Country residents (49.4% of total population compared to 49.5% for England), an increase of 0.3% (+1,925) while nationally there was an increase of 0.6% since the mid-2019 population estimates. There were 608,166 female Black Country residents (50.6% of total population compared to 50.5% for England), an increase of 0.3% (+1,722) while nationally there was an increase of 0.4% since the mid-2019 population estimates.

Total population estimates and the change between mid-2019 and mid-2020:

Components of Population Change:

Components of population change between mid-2019 and mid-2020, (as seen in the following table) shows for the Black Country that there were 1,461 more births than deaths, net international migration of 4,749 people and an additional 230 people classed as other. Over this time period there was a net decrease of 2,801 from internal migration. 

Population by age breakdown

• At the LEP level, the Black Country was the third highest across all the LEPs for the percentage of people aged 0 – 15 years old, at 21.3%. This share is third to the Thames Valley Berkshire LEP (21.6%) and South East Midlands (21.5%). The Black Country was above the England average of 19.2%.
• Across all LEPs, the Black Country was the eighth lowest for the percentage of people aged 65 years old and over, at 17.4%, and below the England average of 18.5%.
• When ranked lowest to highest, the Black Country was in 20th place for the percentage of people aged 16 – 64 years old with 61.3%, below the England average of 62.3%.
• Within the Black Country, all local authorities are above the England average for the percentage of people aged 0 – 15 years old - varying from 19.3% in Dudley to 22.8% in Sandwell.
• Three Black Country local authorities were below the England average for people aged 16 – 64 years old. Population estimated varied from 60.3% in Dudley to 62.3% in Sandwell (matching the England proportion).
• Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton were below the England average for people aged 65 years old and over (15.0%, 17.5% and 16.6% respectively), while Dudley was above at 20.4%.

Population by age

Population density

In mid-2020 there were 3,369 people per sq.km in the Black Country area, significantly above the England average of 434. Within the Black Country, the people per sq. km varies from 2,758 in Walsall to 3,846 in Sandwell.

Source: ONS, Population estimates for the UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland: Mid-2020, June 2021. 
The estimates presented cover the period up to 30 June 2020 and so only describe some of the impacts of the early part of the pandemic on the UK population.
All population estimates are subject to statistical uncertainty