Photo: Jeff Buck · CC BY-SA 2.0Older than 93% of UK towns: half of Fishguard is over 52.4
Households average 2.1 people, against 2.3 across Wales’s towns. Fishguard’s 1,642 households held 3,422 residents at the 2021 Census. Here, 20% of households have dependent children. 43% of residents said they have no religion, more than in 66% of UK towns.
What the Census says about Fishguard’s people
A Welsh-speaking town
984 residents, 29% of those aged 3 and over, said they can speak Welsh in 2021, more than in 81% of Welsh towns. Welsh language ↓
Older than most towns
Half of Fishguard’s residents are under 52.4 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 32% are 65 or over, against 21% across Wales’s towns. Ages ↓
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.
Fishguard’s population moved +1% on 2011, less than in 80% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Fishguard’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 3,400 people in 2011; 3,500 in 2024.
The steepest year was mid-2020 to mid-2021, up 70 people. Change by age ran from +16% for the 65 and over to −24% for the 16 to 29.
32% of residents are 65 or over, more than in 94% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The biggest five-year age group is 70–74, with 8.3% of residents, 1.5 times the share across Wales’s towns. Residents aged 15 to 24 are rarer here than in 67% of UK towns. Across the comparison, 21% of residents are 65 or over across Wales’s towns.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Fishguard, 52.4. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
4.2% of adults are full-time students, fewer than in 77% 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%.
Residents who moved in within the year: 6.8%, below 88% of UK towns. On average, 8% of adults are full-time students across Wales’s towns.
39% of households are one person living alone, a share 98% of UK towns don’t reach
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Dyfed’s towns and Wales’s towns
People per household
Wales’s towns.
Few places have so few shared households of unrelated adults: 2.2% here, fewer than in 58% of UK towns. The wider picture: 32% of households are one person living alone across Wales’s towns.
More households in detached houses than 70% of UK towns: 37%
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
Where 21% of households have no car or van across Wales’s towns, Fishguard has 19%. As a reference point, 24% of households live in a detached house across Wales’s towns. Households in flats account for 8.9%.
99% of residents have English as their main language, more than in 82% of UK towns
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 10%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Among those born abroad, the share arriving in 2017 or later is 13% (Wales’s towns: 23%). Across Fishguard, 5% of residents were born outside the UK. Typically, 96% of residents have English as their main language across Wales’s towns.
In Fishguard, 29% of residents can speak Welsh
Welsh language skills, residents aged 3 and over, Census 2021.
Welsh language skills · residents aged 3 and over
The 2021 Census found 984 Welsh speakers aged 3 and over, 29% of that age group, against 16% across Welsh towns: more than in 81% of them. In Dyfed, Tumble has the highest share (62%).
95% of residents describe themselves as White British, more than in 79% 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 Fishguard · Dyfed’s towns 93% · Wales’s towns 90%.
Religion · all residents
Of the other groups, the largest are Other White (2.5%), Mixed or multiple (0.5%) and Chinese (0.2%). Few places have so few residents who describe themselves as Christian: 47% here, fewer than in two thirds of UK towns. For residents who describe themselves as White British, the comparison across Wales’s towns is 90%.
Adults who have never married make up 33% in Fishguard, more than in 51% 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 make up 10%, close to the figure across Wales’s towns. Across Fishguard, 43% of adults are married or in a civil partnership. For adults who have never married, the comparison across Wales’s towns is 38%.
Degree level: the highest qualification of 31% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
19% of Fishguard’s adults have no qualification (20% across Wales’s towns), and 31% have one at degree level (31%).
Ranked by age, 89th oldest of 749 UK towns this size
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Bailrigg is the youngest (18.9); Milford on Sea the oldest (64.6). Nearest to Fishguard in age: Rowlands Castle (52.4), Bransgore (52.4), Tenby (52.4) and Navenby (52.5).
The towns around Fishguard are all younger
Nearby built-up areas coloured by median age, Census 2021. Tap a town for its page.
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “Dyfed’s towns” and “Wales’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Dyfed (or Wales), summed the same way as Fishguard’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. Fishguard’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 3,422 people in 2021, against 3,422 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 Fishguard’s residents
What is the population of Fishguard?
The 2021 Census counted 3,422 people in Fishguard’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 3,500 people in mid-2024, 1% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Fishguard?
The median age was 52.4 at the 2021 Census, older than 93% of UK towns. 9.2% of residents were 15 to 24 and 32% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Fishguard?
95% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 90% across Wales’s towns and 93% across Dyfed’s towns. 5% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Fishguard?
43% said they had no religion and 47% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.9% were Muslim and 7.6% didn’t answer.
Is Fishguard good for families?
20% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 27% across Wales’s towns. Schools are on Fishguard’s schools page.
How many people speak Welsh in Fishguard?
984 residents aged 3 and over, 29%, said they can speak Welsh at the 2021 Census, against 16% across Welsh towns.
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, TS032) · 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.