Photo: Cornishstrongbitter at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0One-person households make up 38% in Abergavenny, more than in 96% of UK towns
In Abergavenny the average household is 2.1 people, beside 2.3 across Wales’s towns. The 2021 Census counted 13,689 residents in 6,512 households. 27% of residents are 65 or over. Few places have as many households in flats: 20% here, more than in 83% of UK towns.
Slower growth than 66% of UK towns: Abergavenny changed by +4% since 2011
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Abergavenny’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 12,300 people in 2011; 12,800 in 2024.
The 65 and over group saw the biggest change (+26%), the 16 to 29 group the smallest (−7%). The largest rise in a single year came from mid-2020 to mid-2021: 170 people.
Half of Abergavenny is over 48.9, older than 79% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Young people aged 15 to 24 make up nearly one in ten residents, against 12% across Wales’s towns. The biggest five-year age group is 50–54, with 7.4% of residents.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Abergavenny, 48.9. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 91 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.
5.2% of adults are full-time students, a share 66% of UK towns don’t reach
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 Abergavenny, 36% of adults work in managerial and professional jobs and 25% in routine and semi-routine work, against 29% and 27% across Wales’s towns. For full-time students, the comparison across Wales’s towns is 8%. The census found that 9.1% of residents lived at another address a year earlier locally.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
Households with dependent children: 23%, a lower share than 83% of UK towns
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Gwent’s towns and Wales’s towns
People per household
Wales’s towns.
2.1% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home; across Wales’s towns the figure is 3.1%. The usual figure: 27% of households have dependent children across Wales’s towns.
24% of households live in a terraced house, more than in 67% 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
The share of households in detached houses trails just over three fifths of UK towns: 25%. For Abergavenny, the census puts households without a car or van at 22%. The comparison figure for households in terraced houses is 29% across Wales’s towns.
In Abergavenny, 97% of residents have English as their main language, fewer than in 61% 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
Arrivals from 2017 on account for just over a fifth of residents born abroad, beside 23% across Wales’s towns. The wider picture: 96% of residents have English as their main language across Wales’s towns. The two biggest birthplaces abroad are in the Middle East and Asia (2.6%) and in EU countries (2.4%).
Speaking Welsh: 9% in Abergavenny
Welsh language skills, residents aged 3 and over, Census 2021.
Welsh language skills · residents aged 3 and over
9% of residents aged 3 and over, 1,196 people, said in 2021 that they can speak Welsh, fewer than in 79% of Welsh towns (Welsh towns: 16%). Abertridwr and Senghenydd leads Gwent with 14%.
46% of residents describe themselves as Christian, fewer than in 76% 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: 92% of Abergavenny · Gwent’s towns 91% · Wales’s towns 90%.
Religion · all residents
Other than White British, most residents describe themselves as Other White (3%), Mixed or multiple (1.5%) and Indian (0.7%). Residents with no religion are more common here than in 74% of UK towns. The share of residents who describe themselves as Christian across Wales’s towns is 43%. Where nine in ten residents describe themselves as White British across Wales’s towns, Abergavenny has 92%.
A lower share of married adults and civil partners than 73% of UK towns, at 44%
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: 10%, near enough the figure across Wales’s towns. To put it in context, 43% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across Wales’s towns. 393 people care, unpaid, for 50 hours or more a week.
A degree-level qualification for 38% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications are held by 38% of adults in Abergavenny (Wales’s towns: 31%), and no qualification by 19% (Wales’s towns: 20%).
341 UK towns of 10,000 to 18,000 people: this is the 56th 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 Abergavenny in age: Conwy (48.7), Bramhall (48.9), Berwick-upon-Tweed (49) and Romiley (49).
Of the 7 towns nearest Abergavenny, 4 are older
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abergavenny | 13,689 | — | 48.9 | 27% | 23% |
| Llanfoist | 2,007 | 1.2 mi | 42.9 | 21% | 33% |
| Govilon | 1,342 | 2.2 mi | 55.2 | 33% | 19% |
| Gilwern | 2,184 | 3.2 mi | 51.3 | 30% | 23% |
| Blaenavon | 5,637 | 4.8 mi | 40.2 | 19% | 29% |
| Crickhowell | 2,108 | 5.5 mi | 54.6 | 34% | 20% |
| Penperlleni | 1,396 | 6.4 mi | 50.8 | 27% | 23% |
| Abersychan | 7,495 | 7 mi | 41.4 | 19% | 30% |
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.
- “Gwent’s towns” and “Wales’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Gwent (or Wales), summed the same way as Abergavenny’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. Abergavenny’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 12,533 people in 2021, against 13,689 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 Abergavenny’s residents
What is the population of Abergavenny?
The 2021 Census counted 13,689 people in Abergavenny’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 12,800 people in mid-2024, 4% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Abergavenny?
The median age was 48.9 at the 2021 Census, older than 79% of UK towns. 9.4% of residents were 15 to 24 and 27% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Abergavenny?
92% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 90% across Wales’s towns and 91% across Gwent’s towns. 7.2% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Abergavenny?
45% said they had no religion and 46% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 1.1% were Muslim and 6.7% didn’t answer.
Is Abergavenny good for families?
23% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 27% across Wales’s towns. Schools are on Abergavenny’s schools page.
How many people speak Welsh in Abergavenny?
1,196 residents aged 3 and over, 9%, 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.