Photo: Graham Robson · CC BY-SA 2.0Shared households of unrelated adults: 1.4%, a lower share than 94% of UK towns
Households in terraced houses make up 9.7%, against 24% across England’s towns. Census figures put households in detached houses at 52% in Makeney. Adults who have never married are rarer here than in 96% of UK towns. At the 2021 Census Makeney was home to 4,691 people in 1,967 households.
Makeney changed by +1% from 2011 to 2024, slower than 80% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Makeney’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 5,000 people in 2011; 5,100 in 2024.
The 65 and over age group moved most (+17%); the 0 to 15 group moved least (−14%). Between mid-2023 and mid-2024 the population rose by 60, its biggest one-year gain.
A median age of 48.1: Makeney is older than 75% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
10–14 is the most common age band: 7.9% of residents, 1.3 times the share across England’s towns. On residents aged 65 and over, Makeney sits higher than nearly three quarters of UK towns: 25%. Residents aged 15 to 24: 11% of the total.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Makeney, 48.1. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
About 90 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
More students than 93% of UK towns: 7.7% of adults in Makeney
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%.
In Makeney, 52% of adults work in managerial and professional jobs and 12% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. For comparison, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns. Residents who moved in within the year: nearly a tenth of the total.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
Families with children: 31% of households, more than in 81% 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.
A household here has 2.4 people on average; across England’s towns, 2.4. Across Makeney, 29% of households are one person living alone.
Makeney sits below 58% of UK towns for households without a car or van (14%)
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
Flats are home to 12% of households, against 23% across England’s towns. On average, 24% of households have no car or van across England’s towns.
Above 64% of UK towns: 98% of residents have English as their main language
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
Residents born abroad were most often born in EU countries (2.6%), then in the Middle East and Asia (1.8%). The wider picture: nine in ten residents have English as their main language across England’s towns. Among those born abroad, the share arriving in 2017 or later is 13% (England’s towns: 21%).
Residents who describe themselves as Christian make up 52% in Makeney, more than in 66% 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: 91% of Makeney · Derbyshire’s towns 86% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Residents who describe themselves as White British make up 91%, against 73% across England’s towns. Lower than in just over three fifths of UK towns: 39% of residents said they have no religion. As a reference point, 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns. Besides White British, the main groups are Other White (2.8%), Mixed or multiple (2.5%) and Indian (1.1%).
58% of adults are married or in a civil partnership, more than in 96% of UK towns
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
Heavy unpaid care, 50 hours a week or more, falls to 116 residents. The benchmark for married adults and civil partners across England’s towns: 44%. Unpaid carers are about as common here as across England’s towns: 9.2%.
Degree-level qualifications: held by 53% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications are held by 53% of Makeney’s adults, against 34% across England’s towns; 9.8% have no qualification (18%). A levels top the qualifications of 13%, many of them students on the way to a degree.
Ranked by age, 271st oldest of 695 UK towns this size
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
The youngest is Bailrigg (18.9) and the oldest Sutton on Sea and Trusthorpe (64.7). Nearest to Makeney in age: Irchester (47.9), Bayston Hill (48), Send (48.1) and Battle (48.1).
Makeney is younger than 3 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Makeney | 4,691 | — | 48.1 | 25% | 31% |
| Milford | 1,077 | 1.5 mi | 49.9 | 25% | 20% |
| Little Eaton | 1,875 | 1.7 mi | 49.7 | 25% | 28% |
| Holbrook | 1,802 | 2 mi | 53 | 32% | 23% |
| Belper | 19,076 | 3 mi | 47.1 | 22% | 24% |
| Kilburn and Horsley Woodhouse | 4,447 | 3.1 mi | 47.5 | 25% | 24% |
| Denby Bottles | 1,756 | 3.3 mi | 38.4 | 15% | 32% |
| Smalley | 2,201 | 4.4 mi | 44.6 | 23% | 29% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The Census was taken in a lockdown, in term time. 21 March 2021 fell in term time, and students were asked to give their term-time address, so most were counted where they study. Some may have been living with family that day.
- “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 Makeney’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. Makeney’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 5,062 people in 2021, against 4,691 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 Makeney’s residents
What is the population of Makeney?
The 2021 Census counted 4,691 people in Makeney’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 5,100 people in mid-2024, about as many as in 2011.
What is the average age in Makeney?
The median age was 48.1 at the 2021 Census, older than 75% of UK towns. 11% of residents were 15 to 24 and 25% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Makeney?
91% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 86% across Derbyshire’s towns. 6.6% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Makeney?
39% said they had no religion and 52% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.7% were Muslim and 6.2% didn’t answer.
Is Makeney good for families?
31% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Makeney’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. 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.