Cornish population tops 500,000

Cornwall's population is up by more than 6%

A snapshot of Cornwall at the beginning of the 21st century has been revealed with the publication of the 2001 Census.

The county, plus the Isles of Scilly, now officially has a population of more than half a million people after a rise of more than 6% in 10 years.

The final figure from census day on 29 April 2001 was 501,267, up from 468,425 in 1991 and 418,631 in 1981.

The South West is also the fastest growing region of England, having expanded population-wise by 12.5% - compared with an average rate for England of 5%.

"We are really confident that we have got a number that is representative of 100% of the population

John Pullinger,
census team

The region's population rose by 547,058, from 4,381,400 in 1981 to 4,928,458 in 2001.

The smallest local authority in the UK was also located in the Cornwall statistics - the Isles of Scilly authority is responsible for 2,153 people.

Cornwall also showed it was below the UK average in the number of 20 to 39-year-olds living in the county.

The survey has been analysed since people began returning the forms after census day in April 2001.

Fictional householders

But in an attempt to make up for people missed by the census, the Office for National Statistics has used new techniques to create one million fictional householders to top up the total.

Census officials found certain groups, such as students and elderly women, were difficult to get a response from.

So they used new mathematical techniques to predict how many had been missed and where they were likely to live.

John Pullinger of the census team said: "We are really confident that we have got a number that is representative of 100% of the population."