Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0Residents with no religion: 54%, a higher share than 98% of UK towns
Across Wales’s towns, the share of unpaid carers is 10%; Bedwas has 12%. Census day 2021: 6,463 residents and 2,795 households locally. Locally, 24% of households live in a terraced house. Lower than in 77% of UK towns: 19% of households live in a detached house.
+2% since 2011, a pace below 75% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Bedwas’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 6,900 people in 2011; 7,000 in 2024.
Change by age ran from +22% for the 65 and over to −6% for the 16 to 29. The steepest year was mid-2023 to mid-2024, up 120 people.
In Bedwas, 10% of residents are aged 15 to 24, more than in 60% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
No age band is larger than 55–59: 7.2% of residents. Bedwas has more residents aged 65 and over than 54% of UK towns, at 22%. Typically, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across Wales’s towns. In Abergavenny, the oldest of Gwent’s towns by this measure, it is 27%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Bedwas, 44.4. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 92 men for every 100 women. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women.
A higher share of full-time students than 80% of UK towns, at 5.7%
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%.
With residents who moved in within the year at 7.1%, Bedwas is behind 83% of UK towns on that count. Across Wales’s towns, full-time students come to 8%.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
Bedwas households average 2.3 people, larger than in 54% 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.
30% of households are one person living alone, against 32% across Wales’s towns. For Bedwas, the census puts shared households of unrelated adults at 2.2%. At 28%, the share of households with dependent children is higher than in 53% of UK towns.
Bedwas ranks above 73% of UK towns on households without a car or van: 20%
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
Here just over one in ten households live in a flat or apartment, where the figure across Wales’s towns is 14%. About one household in 5 lives without a car or van.
Only 2.9% of residents were born outside the UK in Bedwas
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
Where 23% of those born abroad across Wales’s towns arrived in 2017 or later, here the share is 14%. At 99%, the share of residents whose main language is English is higher than in 84% of UK towns. Across Wales’s towns, residents born outside the UK come to 7.4%. Most residents from abroad were born in EU countries (1.4%) or in the Middle East and Asia (0.7%).
Welsh speakers: 10% of Bedwas’s residents
Welsh language skills, residents aged 3 and over, Census 2021.
Welsh language skills · residents aged 3 and over
Against 16% across Welsh towns, 10% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Welsh here (656 people): fewer than in 66% of Welsh towns. The highest share in Gwent belongs to Abertridwr and Senghenydd (14%).
39% describe themselves as Christian, fewer than in 94% 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: 96% of Bedwas · Gwent’s towns 91% · Wales’s towns 90%.
Religion · all residents
Next after White British come Other White (1.6%), Mixed or multiple (1%) and Indian (0.4%). Against that, 43% of residents describe themselves as Christian across Wales’s towns. Higher than in 91% of UK towns: 96% of residents describe themselves as White British.
Fewer married adults and civil partners than 61% of UK towns: 46%
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
277 residents care, unpaid, for at least 50 hours a week. Compared with other places, adults who have never married are common here: 34%, more than in 61% of UK towns. Across Wales’s towns, married adults and civil partners come to 43%.
Among adults, 25% hold a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Across Wales’s towns, 31% of adults have a degree-level qualification; in Bedwas, 25%, and 24% have none, against 20%.
Among 473 UK towns of 5,000 to 9,000 people, the 199th youngest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
The youngest is Red Lodge (30.9) and the oldest Barton on Sea (65.3). Nearest to Bedwas in age: Brecon (44.4), Treharris (44.4), Easington (44.5) and Barrow upon Soar (44.5).
Bedwas is younger than 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bedwas | 6,463 | — | 44.4 | 22% | 28% |
| Trethomas | 1,713 | 1.3 mi | 33.8 | 14% | 38% |
| Llanbradach | 3,766 | 1.7 mi | 44.1 | 22% | 25% |
| Caerphilly | 33,104 | 1.7 mi | 42.1 | 20% | 29% |
| Cwmfelinfach | 1,353 | 1.8 mi | 40.4 | 17% | 27% |
| Machen | 1,985 | 2.6 mi | 47 | 22% | 28% |
| Abertridwr and Senghenydd | 5,639 | 3.2 mi | 37.6 | 16% | 31% |
| Maesycwmmer | 2,095 | 3.6 mi | 46.1 | 24% | 25% |
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 Bedwas’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. Bedwas’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 6,771 people in 2021, against 6,463 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 Bedwas’s residents
What is the population of Bedwas?
The 2021 Census counted 6,463 people in Bedwas’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 7,000 people in mid-2024, 2% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Bedwas?
The median age was 44.4 at the 2021 Census, younger than 51% of UK towns. 10% of residents were 15 to 24 and 22% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Bedwas?
96% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 90% across Wales’s towns and 91% across Gwent’s towns. 2.9% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Bedwas?
54% said they had no religion and 39% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.2% were Muslim and 5.8% didn’t answer.
Is Bedwas good for families?
28% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 27% across Wales’s towns. Schools are on Bedwas’s schools page.
How many people speak Welsh in Bedwas?
656 residents aged 3 and over, 10%, 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.