Photo: Simon Burchell · CC BY-SA 3.0In Old Wives Lees, 0.8% of households live in a flat or apartment, fewer than in 99% of UK towns
Households without a car or van make up 4.6%, against 24% across England’s towns. Old Wives Lees had 637 residents in 264 households at the 2021 Census. For Old Wives Lees, the census puts one-person households at 22%. Few places have as many married adults and civil partners: 53% here, more than in 79% of UK towns.
Below 97% of UK towns: 7.4% of residents are aged 15 to 24
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The median age in Old Wives Lees is 48.6, higher than in 77% of UK towns. Against that, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns. 25% of residents are 65 or over. More residents are 55–59 than any other five-year age: 8.5% of residents, 1.3 times the share across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 94 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.
In Old Wives Lees, 3.9% of adults are full-time students, fewer than in 87% 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%.
Managerial and professional jobs account for 35% of Old Wives Lees’s adults, routine and semi-routine work for 19%, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. Lower than in 67% of UK towns: 7.9% of residents lived at another address a year earlier.
Old Wives Lees households average 2.4 people, larger than in 80% of UK towns
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.
In Old Wives Lees, 30% of households have dependent children, beside 29% across England’s towns. For Old Wives Lees, the census puts shared households of unrelated adults at 2.3%.
A higher share of households in detached houses than 87% of UK towns, at 47%
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 census found that 20% of households live in a terraced house in Old Wives Lees. 0.8% of households live in a flat, less than in 99% of UK towns; 47% in a detached house, against 21% across England’s towns.
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
By birthplace, the largest groups from abroad were born in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (2.5%) and in Africa (1.9%). For residents whose main language is English, the comparison across England’s towns is 90%. 6.4% of residents were born outside the UK, a higher share than in 51% of UK towns.
56% of residents describe themselves as Christian, more than in 82% 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 Old Wives Lees · Kent’s towns 82% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Little separates the share of residents with no religion here, 37%, from the figure across England’s towns. To put it in context, 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns. The groups that follow White British are Other White (4.6%), Mixed or multiple (2.2%) and Indian (0.3%). Residents who describe themselves as White British are more common here than in 52% of UK towns.
29% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership, below 75% 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
Nothing unusual on unpaid carers: 8.6%, close to the figure across England’s towns. Elsewhere, nearly two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. 23 residents give 50 hours or more of unpaid care each week.
33% of adults have a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications cover 33% of adults in Old Wives Lees, 34% across England’s towns; 16% have no qualification, against 18%.
Around Old Wives Lees, 2 of 7 towns have a higher median age
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Old Wives Lees | 637 | — | 48.6 | 25% | 30% |
| Chartham | 3,569 | 2.1 mi | 37.6 | 13% | 37% |
| Boughton under Blean | 2,274 | 2.7 mi | 46.1 | 23% | 28% |
| Rough Common | 1,291 | 4.3 mi | 42.5 | 24% | 27% |
| Challock | 1,089 | 4.7 mi | 46.1 | 22% | 31% |
| Blean | 1,327 | 4.8 mi | 52.3 | 32% | 22% |
| Canterbury | 55,107 | 5 mi | 27.5 | 13% | 24% |
| Wye | 2,064 | 5.2 mi | 49.1 | 29% | 25% |
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 Old Wives Lees’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 Old Wives Lees’s residents
What is the population of Old Wives Lees?
The 2021 Census counted 637 people in Old Wives Lees’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Old Wives Lees?
The median age was 48.6 at the 2021 Census. 7.4% of residents were 15 to 24 and 25% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Old Wives Lees?
92% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 82% across Kent’s towns. 6.4% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Old Wives Lees?
37% said they had no religion and 56% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0% were Muslim and 5.2% didn’t answer.
Is Old Wives Lees good for families?
30% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Old Wives Lees’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.