Photo: Mike Searle · CC BY-SA 2.0A median age of 54.2: East Stour is older than 96% of UK towns
Set against 73% across England’s towns, 97% of residents describe themselves as White British in East Stour. At the 2021 Census, 603 people lived here, in 267 households. Households in detached houses account for 61%. On adults who have never married, East Stour sits lower than 99% of UK towns: 22%.
6.8% of residents are aged 15 to 24, fewer than in 99% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Here 30% of residents are 65 or over, where the figure across England’s towns is 18%. Elsewhere, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 91 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.
Full-time students: 2.6%, a lower share than 99% of UK towns
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 East Stour, 35% of adults work in managerial and professional jobs and 20% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. More residents who moved in within the year than in 70% of UK towns: 9.8%. The share of full-time students across England’s towns is 7.9%.
Only 22% of households have dependent children in East Stour
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Dorset’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
Against a figure of 4.3% across England’s towns, the share of shared households of unrelated adults in East Stour comes in at 2.3%. For comparison, 29% of households have dependent children across England’s towns. Across East Stour, 27% of households are one person living alone.
5.7% of households have no car or van, below 98% of UK towns
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
9.7% of households live in a terraced house (England’s towns: 24%). On top of that, every 18th household or so has no car or van. For East Stour, the census puts households in flats at 3.4%.
99% of residents have English as their main language, a share 87% of UK towns don’t reach
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%
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
6% of residents were born outside the UK; across England’s towns the figure is 18%. Residents born abroad were most often born in Africa (2%), then in the Middle East and Asia (1.3%). To put it in context, 90% of residents have English as their main language across England’s towns.
East Stour: 54% of residents describe themselves as Christian, above 75% 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: 97% of East Stour · Dorset’s towns 87% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Set against 37% across England’s towns, two in five residents said they have no religion in East Stour. As a yardstick, 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns. After White British, the most common groups are Other White (2%), Indian (0.5%) and Mixed or multiple (0.3%).
60% of adults are married or in a civil partnership, more than in 98% 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
Unpaid carers giving 50 hours or more a week: 27. Few places have so few unpaid carers: 8.8% here, fewer than in two thirds of UK towns. The share of married adults and civil partners across England’s towns is 44%.
A degree-level qualification for 32% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications cover 32% of adults in East Stour, 34% across England’s towns; 14% have no qualification, against 18%.
Around East Stour, 2 of 7 towns have a higher median age
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Stour | 603 | — | 54.2 | 30% | 22% |
| Gillingham | 11,009 | 2.1 mi | 48.5 | 27% | 24% |
| Marnhull | 1,466 | 3.1 mi | 59.5 | 40% | 16% |
| Motcombe | 1,366 | 3.1 mi | 52.7 | 28% | 22% |
| Shaftesbury | 9,163 | 4.1 mi | 44.2 | 24% | 26% |
| Stalbridge | 2,367 | 5.5 mi | 55.6 | 35% | 20% |
| Sturminster Newton | 3,565 | 5.5 mi | 48.2 | 28% | 24% |
| Henstridge | 1,579 | 5.6 mi | 48.9 | 27% | 24% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “Dorset’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Dorset (or England), summed the same way as East Stour’s figures, so households in open countryside are left out.
- 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 East Stour’s residents
What is the population of East Stour?
The 2021 Census counted 603 people in East Stour’s built-up area.
What is the average age in East Stour?
The median age was 54.2 at the 2021 Census. 6.8% of residents were 15 to 24 and 30% were 65 or over.
How diverse is East Stour?
97% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 87% across Dorset’s towns. 6% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in East Stour?
40% said they had no religion and 54% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0% were Muslim and 5.1% didn’t answer.
Is East Stour good for families?
22% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on East Stour’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). 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.