Photo: Robin Webster · CC BY-SA 2.0Alkham is older than 99% of UK towns: a median age of 58.9
Where 21% of households live in a detached house across England’s towns, Alkham has 61%. At 19%, the share of households with dependent children is lower than in 96% of UK towns. The village’s 148 households held 322 residents at the 2021 Census. Households in flats account for 0.7%.
Alkham ranks above 98% of UK towns on residents aged 65 and over: 38%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Across England’s towns, the share of residents aged 15 to 24 is 12%; Alkham has 6.8%. By way of comparison, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 93 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
Fewer full-time students than 98% of UK towns: 3.2%
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: 8.2%, below 62% of UK towns. To put it in context, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Below 91% of UK towns: 24% of households are one person living alone
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Kent’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
Shared households of unrelated adults are about as common here as across England’s towns, at 4.1%. Across England’s towns, the share of one-person households is 30%. On average, 2.2 people share a household.
A smaller share of households without a car or van than 96% of UK towns: 6.8%
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
Households in terraced houses: 13%, below 80% of UK towns. The benchmark for households without a car or van across England’s towns: 24%.
Residents whose main language is English: 100%, a higher share than 99% 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 25%
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
In Alkham, 4% of residents were born outside the UK, beside 18% across England’s towns. Residents whose main language is English: 90% across England’s towns, for comparison. Most residents from abroad were born in EU countries (1.6%) or in Africa (1.6%).
Residents who describe themselves as White British: 94%, a higher share than 70% 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: 94% of Alkham · Kent’s towns 82% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Against a figure of 37% across England’s towns, the share of residents with no religion in Alkham comes in at 42%. To put it in context, 73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns. 52% of residents describe themselves as Christian.
In Alkham, 21% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership, fewer than in 99% 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
Across England’s towns, 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership; in Alkham, 57%. Compared with other places, unpaid carers are scarce here: 7.4%, fewer than in 92% of UK towns. To put it in context, nearly two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. The number giving 50 or more hours of unpaid care a week is 10.
37% of adults are qualified to degree level
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications are held by 37% of Alkham’s adults, against 34% across England’s towns; 15% have no qualification (18%).
1 of the 7 nearest towns are older than Alkham
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alkham | 322 | — | 58.9 | 38% | 19% |
| Capel-le-Ferne | 1,962 | 2.3 mi | 59.8 | 40% | 14% |
| Dover | 36,349 | 3 mi | 40 | 18% | 28% |
| Hawkinge | 8,499 | 3.1 mi | 41.1 | 18% | 37% |
| Whitfield | 6,509 | 3.4 mi | 44.7 | 24% | 28% |
| Sibertswold | 1,619 | 3.7 mi | 54.3 | 32% | 23% |
| Guston | 1,684 | 4.2 mi | 25.5 | 6.9% | 49% |
| Folkestone | 51,987 | 4.3 mi | 41.3 | 19% | 27% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “Kent’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Kent (or England), summed the same way as Alkham’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 Alkham’s residents
What is the population of Alkham?
The 2021 Census counted 322 people in Alkham’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Alkham?
The median age was 58.9 at the 2021 Census. 6.8% of residents were 15 to 24 and 38% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Alkham?
94% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 82% across Kent’s towns. 4% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Alkham?
42% said they had no religion and 52% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0% were Muslim and 4% didn’t answer.
Is Alkham good for families?
19% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Alkham’s schools page.
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). 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.