Photo: Alan Murray-Rust · CC BY-SA 2.0Residents with no religion: 46%, a higher share than 83% of UK towns
Households with dependent children make up 24%, against 29% across England’s towns. In 2021, the Census found 19,076 residents in Belper, living in 8,635 households. On the census count, 40% of households live in a detached house. With a median age of 47.1, Belper is older than 69% of UK towns.
What the Census says about Belper’s people
Fewer people than in 2011
ONS mid-year estimates put Belper at 20,000 in 2011 and 19,800 in 2024, down 1%, against 10% for England: slower growth than in 87% of UK towns. Since 2011 ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 (output areas summed to the 2022 built-up area) and ONS mid-year population estimates.
A change of −1% since 2011 leaves Belper behind 87% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Belper’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 20,000 people in 2011; 19,800 in 2024.
Change by age ran from +31% for the 65 and over to −17% for the 30 to 44.
A larger share of residents aged 65 and over than 55% of UK towns: 22%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Residents aged 15 to 24 are rarer here than in 53% of UK towns. Typically, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns. In Bakewell, the oldest of Derbyshire’s towns by this measure, it is 38%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Belper, 47.1. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
Belper sits below 80% of UK towns for residents who moved in within the year (7.3%)
What adults did at the 2021 Census (the ONS’s NS-SEC classes), and where residents lived a year earlier.
Adults by occupation class · residents 16 and over
Address a year before the Census
Residents who lived somewhere else a year earlier. The bar runs to 25%.
By class, 36% of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 25% in routine and semi-routine work (England’s towns: 33% and 24%). Full-time students account for 4.5%. On average, just over one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier across England’s towns.
Shared households of unrelated adults: 1.8%, a lower share than 80% of UK towns
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Derbyshire’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
Across England’s towns, households average 2.4 people; in Belper, 2.2. On average, 4.3% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home across England’s towns. In Belper, 31% of households are one person living alone.
Few flats: only 8% of households in Belper live in one
Accommodation type and cars or vans per household, Census 2021. Owning and renting are on Cost of living.
Type of home
Cars or vans · share of households
On households without a car or van, Belper sits higher than 52% of UK towns: 16%. By way of comparison, 23% of households live in a flat or apartment across England’s towns. A fifth of households live in a terraced house.
A smaller share of residents born outside the UK than 84% of UK towns: 3.5%
Country of birth, year of arrival and main language, Census 2021.
Born outside the UK, by region · share of all residents; the bar runs to 25%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
The two biggest birthplaces abroad are in EU countries (1.5%) and in the Middle East and Asia (0.7%). Residents whose main language is English are more common here than in 85% of UK towns. The share of residents born outside the UK across England’s towns is 18%. Recent arrivals (2017 or later) make up 13% of those born abroad (England’s towns: 21%).
95% of residents describe themselves as White British, more than in 77% of UK towns
How residents described themselves at the 2021 Census. Lines join the lowest and highest of the three figures.
Ethnic groups other than White British · all residents
White British, not charted: 95% of Belper · Derbyshire’s towns 86% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
At 46%, the share of residents who describe themselves as Christian is in line with the figure across England’s towns. As a yardstick, 73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns. Leading the other groups after White British: Other White (2.1%), Mixed or multiple (1.5%) and Indian (0.3%).
50% of adults are married or in a civil partnership, a share 60% of UK towns don’t reach
Legal partnership status (residents 16 and over) and unpaid care (residents 5 and over), Census 2021.
Partnership status · residents 16 and over
Unpaid care given · share of residents 5 and over
31% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership (England’s towns: 39%). Across Belper, 10% of residents give unpaid care. Elsewhere, 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across England’s towns.
34% of adults have qualifications at degree level
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
34% of Belper’s adults have a degree-level qualification, against 34% across England’s towns; 17% have none (18%).
From a median age of 46 in Openwoodgate & Holbrook to 54 in Ambergate, Heage & Idridgehay
The town’s 4 neighbourhoods (ONS middle-layer areas with 500+ residents inside it, named by the House of Commons Library), youngest first. Census 2021.
Ambergate, Heage & Idridgehay is the oldest area, with 33% aged 65 or over; Openwoodgate & Holbrook the youngest (median age 46). Families with children are most common in Belper Far Laund (27% of households).
336 UK towns of 13,000 to 26,000 people: this is the 67th oldest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
At the ends of the range sit Aberystwyth (25), the youngest, and Sidmouth (60.4), the oldest. Nearest to Belper in age: Romsey (47), Buxton (47.1), Frampton Cotterell and Winterbourne (47.1) and Alsager (47.2).
Belper is younger than 6 of its 7 nearest neighbours
Nearby built-up areas coloured by median age, Census 2021. Tap a town for its page.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Homes with children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belper | 19,076 | — | 47.1 | 22% | 24% |
| Milford | 1,077 | 1.5 mi | 49.9 | 25% | 20% |
| Holbrook | 1,802 | 1.6 mi | 53 | 32% | 23% |
| Heage | 2,584 | 1.6 mi | 52.7 | 29% | 21% |
| Denby Bottles | 1,756 | 1.9 mi | 38.4 | 15% | 32% |
| Ambergate | 1,566 | 2.2 mi | 49.6 | 23% | 25% |
| Kilburn and Horsley Woodhouse | 4,447 | 2.4 mi | 47.5 | 25% | 24% |
| Makeney | 4,691 | 3 mi | 48.1 | 25% | 31% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “Derbyshire’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Derbyshire (or England), summed the same way as Belper’s figures, so households in open countryside are left out. The population trend compares with the whole county and nation.
- Estimates since 2021 are modelled. The ONS builds mid-year estimates from the Census, births, deaths and migration records. Belper’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 19,639 people in 2021, against 19,076 in the built-up area.
- Small counts are blurred. The ONS adds small random changes to Census counts to protect privacy, so the same total differs a little between tables, and the shares of a small town can move by a point or two.
Questions about Belper’s residents
What is the population of Belper?
The 2021 Census counted 19,076 people in Belper’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 19,800 people in mid-2024, about as many as in 2011.
What is the average age in Belper?
The median age was 47.1 at the 2021 Census, older than 69% of UK towns. 9.7% of residents were 15 to 24 and 22% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Belper?
95% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 86% across Derbyshire’s towns. 3.5% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Belper?
46% said they had no religion and 46% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.2% were Muslim and 5.6% didn’t answer.
Is Belper good for families?
24% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Families are most common in Belper Far Laund (27% of households). Schools are on Belper’s schools page.
Sources: ONS Census 2021, output areas summed to the ONS 2022 built-up area (TS002, TS003, TS004, TS007A, TS008, TS015, TS017, TS019, TS021, TS029, TS030, TS039, TS044, TS045, TS062, TS067) · ONS mid-year population estimates for 2021 LSOAs, mid-2011 to mid-2024 · House of Commons Library MSOA names. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.