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Joint Strategic Needs Assessment

Population and Ethnicity


Population

ONS estimates that Southwark's Mid-2009 population is 285,600. In terms of numbers this makes Southwark London's second largest inner London borough, just behind Wandsworth. For further information, click here. Southwark's population has increased by 37,700 over the last 10 years (ONS Mid-1991 Population Estimates) and is estimated to increase by 37,500 (13%) between 2010 and 2020. This increase will not be uniform across ages, there is expected to be a 15% increase in children, 13% among adults and 8% among older people. Click here for further detail on population projections.

Southwark's population structure is broadly comparable to London's. There are a slightly higher proportion of females aged 20 - 39 and males aged 20 - 49, and a lower proportion of boys and girls aged 5 - 19, females over 40 and males over 50. The difference with England's population structure is more marked. Southwark has more boys and girls aged 0 - 4, and considerably more males 20 - 44 and females 20 - 39. Southwark also has fewer children aged 5 - 19, and considerably fewer males over 50 and females over 45. For more details on the population pyramid click here.

For more information, contact jsna@southwark.gov.uk

DateTitleFormat
2009 Southwark's population
2008 Southwark's projected population
2009 Southwark population pyramid


Births

There were 4905 births in Southwark in 2009, which is 757 more than in 2000 (4148) and actually a slight drop from 2008 (5041). Data covering the years 2000 - 2009 show that numbers of births in Southwark are generally increasing year on year, with only 2009 breaking from this trend. The birth rate has also increased from 62.6 per 1,000 women aged 15 - 44 in 2000 to 68.7 in 2008, and the number of women of child bearing age, 66,300 in 2000 to 75,200 in 2009. For further information click here.

While most babies in Southwark are healthy, still birth and infant mortality rates (infant deaths under 1 year) compared to the rest of London and England give some cause for concern. For more information on this click here.

DateTitleFormat
2000 - 2009 Annual births trends


Ethnicity

Like much of Inner London, Southwark's population is richly diverse. It is difficult to have a complete and accurate picture of the ethnicity of our rapidly changing population. Census information suggests that 63% of our population is White British, , the next largest ethnicity being the broad 'Black' group at 26%. The proportions of ethnic groups varies widely across the borough with some parts being highly diverse. According to ONS 2007 Ethnicity Estimates less than half (46.5%) of Southwark's children are 'White British', a smaller proportion than Adults (51.7%) and Older people (68.5%). 29.5% of children are from 'Black' ethnicities, as are 19% of adults and 14% of older people. Within the broad 'Black' ethnic group most adults and children are 'Black African', however among the older people most are 'Black Carribean.' For more information on ethnicity,click here.


DateTitleFormat
2007 Ethnicity Estimates (ONS)
2001 Ethnicity (Census)


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