Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0Younger than 91% of UK towns: half of Newport is under 37.4
In Newport, 41% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership, beside 38% across Wales’s towns. The city’s 54,284 households held 130,882 residents at the 2021 Census. The census found that nearly a fifth of households live in a flat or apartment here. Households in terraced houses are more common here than in 89% of UK towns.
What the Census says about Newport’s people
Younger than most towns
Half of Newport’s residents are under 37.4 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 11% are 15 to 24 and 16% are 65 or over. Ages ↓
More born abroad than anywhere else in Gwent
14% of residents were born outside the UK, against 6.1% across Gwent’s towns and 7.4% across Wales’s towns. The largest groups were born in EU countries (5.6%) and in the Middle East and Asia (4.9%). Where people were born ↓
A mix of backgrounds
22% of residents described their ethnic group as something other than White British at the 2021 Census, more than in 86% of UK towns. The largest groups after White British are Other White (5.8%), Pakistani (3.4%) and Mixed or multiple (2.9%). Ethnicity & religion ↓
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.
Newport’s population changed by +16% since 2011, more than in 78% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Newport’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the city.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 118,300 people in 2011; 137,400 in 2024.
Change by age ran from +39% for the 30 to 44 to −2% for the 16 to 29. In one year, mid-2022 to mid-2023, the population rose by 2,830, the most of any year.
Only 16% of residents are 65 or over in Newport
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
11% of residents are aged 15 to 24; across Wales’s towns the figure is 12%. The usual figure: 21% of residents are 65 or over across Wales’s towns.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Newport, 37.4. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women.
Newport sits above 88% of UK towns for full-time students (6.5%)
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%.
Across Wales’s towns, 29% of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 27% in routine or semi-routine work; Newport has 27% and 30%. On average, 8% of adults are full-time students across Wales’s towns. Residents who moved in within the year are rarer here than in nearly two thirds of UK towns.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
Households with dependent children: 31%, a higher share than 79% 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.
Against a figure of 32% across Wales’s towns, the share of one-person households in Newport comes in at 31%. The average household has 2.4 people. At 2.9%, the share of shared households of unrelated adults is higher than in 73% of UK towns. Measured more widely, 27% of households have dependent children across Wales’s towns.
More households without a car or van than 88% of UK towns: 25%
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 is 14%, against 24% across Wales’s towns. One household in every 4 has no car or van.
Newport: 14% of residents were born outside the UK, above 84% 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 20%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Since 2017: 21% of those born abroad, against 23% across Wales’s towns. To put it in context, 7.4% of residents were born outside the UK across Wales’s towns. For Newport, the census puts residents whose main language is English at 93%.
Welsh speakers make up 7.4% of Newport
Welsh language skills, residents aged 3 and over, Census 2021.
Welsh language skills · residents aged 3 and over
7.4% of residents aged 3 and over, 9,260 people, said in 2021 that they can speak Welsh, fewer than in 94% of Welsh towns (Welsh towns: 16%). Abertridwr and Senghenydd leads Gwent with 14%.
Residents who describe themselves as White British: 78%, a lower share than 86% 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: 78% of Newport · Gwent’s towns 91% · Wales’s towns 90%.
Religion · all residents
47% of residents said they have no religion across Wales’s towns, against 43% in Newport. Across Newport, just over two in five residents describe themselves as Christian. On average, 90% of residents describe themselves as White British across Wales’s towns.
Fewer married adults and civil partners than 87% of UK towns: 41%
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
Students and young renters account for much of that. Unpaid carers account for 9.9%.
29% of adults hold a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Across Wales’s towns, 20% of adults have no qualification; in Newport, 23%, while 29% hold one at degree level (31%). The highest qualification of 16% is A levels, often students still at university.
From a median age of 31 in Langstone & Llan-wern to 47 in Lawrence Hill
The city’s 19 neighbourhoods (ONS middle-layer areas with 500+ residents inside it, named by the House of Commons Library), youngest first. Census 2021.
Lawrence Hill is the oldest area, with 24% aged 65 or over; Langstone & Llan-wern the youngest (median age 31). Families with children are most common in Rogerstone (44% of households).
Among 54 UK towns of 92,000 to 177,000 people, the 19th youngest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
The youngest is Salford (29.8) and the oldest Southport (48.4). Nearest to Newport in age: Harlow (37.2), Watford (37.4), Middlesbrough (37.5) and Huddersfield (37.7).
Newport is younger than 6 of its 7 nearest neighbours
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
- 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 Newport’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. Newport’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 129,630 people in 2021, against 130,882 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 Newport’s residents
What is the population of Newport?
The 2021 Census counted 130,882 people in Newport’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 137,400 people in mid-2024, 16% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Newport?
The median age was 37.4 at the 2021 Census, younger than 91% of UK towns. 11% of residents were 15 to 24 and 16% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Newport?
78% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 90% across Wales’s towns and 91% across Gwent’s towns. 14% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Newport?
43% said they had no religion and 41% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 8.2% were Muslim and 5.7% didn’t answer.
Is Newport good for families?
31% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 27% across Wales’s towns. Families are most common in Rogerstone (44% of households). Schools are on Newport’s schools page.
How many people speak Welsh in Newport?
9,260 residents aged 3 and over, 7.4%, 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 · House of Commons Library MSOA names. 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.