Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0Half of Ponthir is over 55.1, older than 97% of UK towns
The share of one-person households is 24%, against 32% across Wales’s towns. Ponthir is home to 1,260 residents in 557 households, by the 2021 Census. Households without a car or van: 8.5% of the total. Compared with other places, households in terraced houses are scarce here: 9.2%, fewer than in 91% of UK towns.
What the Census says about Ponthir’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Ponthir’s residents are under 55.1 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 29% 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).
29% of residents are 65 or over, more than in 90% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The biggest five-year age group is 55–59, with just over one in ten residents, 1.6 times the share across Wales’s towns. Lower than in just over four fifths of UK towns: 8.7% of residents are aged 15 to 24. Measured more widely, 21% of residents are 65 or over across Wales’s towns.
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.
In Ponthir, 6.2% of residents lived at another address a year earlier, fewer than in 95% 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%.
Across Wales’s towns, 29% of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 27% in routine work; in Ponthir, 49% and 14%. The wider picture: nearly one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier across Wales’s towns. The share of full-time students stands at 5.1%.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
A lower share of households with dependent children than 87% of UK towns, at 23%
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.
3.1% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home across Wales’s towns, against 2% in Ponthir. The wider picture: 27% of households have dependent children across Wales’s towns. A household here holds 2.3 people on average.
60% of households live in a detached house, a share 97% of UK towns don’t reach
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
5.8% of households live in a flat or apartment, against 14% across Wales’s towns. Across the comparison, nearly a quarter of households live in a detached house across Wales’s towns.
A higher share of residents whose main language is English than 99% of UK towns, at 100%
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%
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
The share of residents born outside the UK trails just over three quarters of UK towns: 4.1%. 100% of residents have English or Welsh as their main language.
8.2% of people in Ponthir speak Welsh
Welsh language skills, residents aged 3 and over, Census 2021.
Welsh language skills · residents aged 3 and over
At the 2021 Census, 102 residents aged 3 and over, 8.2%, said they can speak Welsh, against 16% across Welsh towns: fewer than in 85% of Welsh towns. Top of Gwent: Abertridwr and Senghenydd, at 14%.
A larger share of residents who describe themselves as Christian than 82% of UK towns: 55%
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 Ponthir · Gwent’s towns 91% · Wales’s towns 90%.
Religion · all residents
By its share of residents who describe themselves as White British (95%), Ponthir is above 79% of UK towns. Lower than in 72% of UK towns: 37% of residents said they have no religion. The share of residents who describe themselves as Christian across Wales’s towns is 43%. Besides White British, the main groups are Mixed or multiple (1.5%), Other White (1.1%) and Indian (0.8%).
63% of adults are married or in a civil partnership, a share 99% of UK towns don’t reach
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
The figure for unpaid carers is 12% in Ponthir and 10% across Wales’s towns. Across Ponthir, just over a fifth of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership. Typically, 43% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across Wales’s towns.
Adults with a degree-level qualification: 46%
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications cover 46% of adults in Ponthir, 31% across Wales’s towns; 12% have no qualification, against 20%.
Every nearby town is younger than Ponthir
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 Ponthir’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 Ponthir’s residents
What is the population of Ponthir?
The 2021 Census counted 1,260 people in Ponthir’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Ponthir?
The median age was 55.1 at the 2021 Census. 8.7% of residents were 15 to 24 and 29% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Ponthir?
95% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 90% across Wales’s towns and 91% across Gwent’s towns. 4.1% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Ponthir?
37% said they had no religion and 55% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 1% were Muslim and 5.9% didn’t answer.
Is Ponthir good for families?
23% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 27% across Wales’s towns. Schools are on Ponthir’s schools page.
How many people speak Welsh in Ponthir?
102 residents aged 3 and over, 8.2%, 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). 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.