Photo: Dr Charles Nelson · CC BY-SA 2.0A higher share of households in detached houses than 99% of UK towns, at 79%
One-person households make up 23%, against 30% across England’s towns. At the 2021 Census, 445 people lived in Barroway Drove, in 175 households. Locally, 5.7% of households have no car or van. Residents aged 15 to 24 are rarer here than in 82% of UK towns.
Half of Barroway Drove is over 47.9, older than 74% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
55–59 is the most common age band: 13% of residents, 2 times the share across England’s towns. The census found that a fifth of residents are 65 or over in Barroway Drove.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
49% women, 51% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
3.6% of adults are full-time students, below 94% 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%.
At 11%, residents who moved in within the year sit close to the figure across England’s towns. The wider picture: 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Bigger households than 91% of UK towns: 2.5 people each on average
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Norfolk’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
Barroway Drove sits close to the norm on shared households of unrelated adults: 4%, about the same as across England’s towns. For Barroway Drove, the census puts households with dependent children at 27%.
A smaller share of households in flats than 99% of UK towns: 0.6%
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
Above 99% of UK towns: 100% of residents have English as their main language
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
18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns, against 3.8% in Barroway Drove. By way of comparison, nine in ten residents have English as their main language across England’s towns. Residents born abroad were most often born in EU countries (1.8%), then in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (0.9%).
A larger share of residents who describe themselves as White British than 99% of UK towns: 98%
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: 98% of Barroway Drove · Norfolk’s towns 88% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Residents with no religion make up 45%, against 37% across England’s towns. The usual figure: 73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns. The census found that 47% of residents describe themselves as Christian in Barroway Drove.
Below 60% of UK towns: 31% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership
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
Unpaid carers giving 50 hours or more a week: 15. By way of comparison, nearly two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. Here 49% of adults are married or in a civil partnership, where the figure across England’s towns is 44%.
Adults qualified to degree level or above: 20%
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Barroway Drove’s adults: 20% with a degree-level qualification and 19% with none, against 34% and 18% across England’s towns.
Older than Barroway Drove: 3 of the 7 towns nearby
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barroway Drove | 445 | — | 47.9 | 20% | 27% |
| Downham Market | 11,349 | 2.5 mi | 48.2 | 30% | 22% |
| Upwell and Outwell | 3,664 | 4 mi | 46.3 | 24% | 25% |
| Marshland St James | 1,025 | 4.9 mi | 49.6 | 27% | 24% |
| Watlington | 2,593 | 5.4 mi | 43.3 | 20% | 28% |
| Elm and Emneth | 4,555 | 5.9 mi | 47.8 | 25% | 25% |
| Southery | 1,258 | 6.4 mi | 44.7 | 22% | 27% |
| Friday Bridge | 1,411 | 6.4 mi | 51.8 | 31% | 20% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “Norfolk’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Norfolk (or England), summed the same way as Barroway Drove’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 Barroway Drove’s residents
What is the population of Barroway Drove?
The 2021 Census counted 445 people in Barroway Drove’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Barroway Drove?
The median age was 47.9 at the 2021 Census. 8.7% of residents were 15 to 24 and 20% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Barroway Drove?
98% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 88% across Norfolk’s towns. 3.8% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Barroway Drove?
45% said they had no religion and 47% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.5% were Muslim and 6.1% didn’t answer.
Is Barroway Drove good for families?
27% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Barroway Drove’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.