Photo: Sandy Gerrard · CC BY-SA 2.0A median age of 62.8: Great Bircham is older than 99% of UK towns
In Great Bircham, 15% of households have dependent children, beside 29% across England’s towns. One-person households are rarer here than in 93% of UK towns. The village had 213 residents in 104 households at the 2021 Census. Households without a car or van account for 5%.
46% of Great Bircham is 65 or over, a higher share than 99% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
5.6% of residents are aged 15 to 24, against 12% across England’s towns. Measured more widely, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
Only 1.1% of adults are full-time students in Great Bircham
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 England’s towns, 33% of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 24% in routine or semi-routine work; Great Bircham has 49% and 17%. For full-time students, the comparison across England’s towns is 7.9%. 13% of residents lived at another address a year earlier.
Smaller households than 81% of UK towns: 2.2 people 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.
Where 4.3% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home across England’s towns, Great Bircham has 2.9%.
Great Bircham ranks below 97% of UK towns on households in flats: 2%
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 figure for households in detached houses is 57% in Great Bircham and 21% across England’s towns. Still, 9% of households live in a terraced house, a lower share than in 91% of UK towns. The wider picture: nearly a quarter of households live in a flat or apartment across England’s towns.
Great Bircham sits above 73% of UK towns for residents whose main language is English (99%)
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 EU countries (3.7%) and in the rest of Europe (1.4%). 6.1% of residents were born outside the UK, fewer than in 53% of UK towns. Set beside that, 90% of residents have English as their main language across England’s towns.
In Great Bircham, 96% of residents describe themselves as White British, more than in 90% 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: 96% of Great Bircham · Norfolk’s towns 88% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
In Great Bircham, just over a third of residents said they have no religion, beside 37% across England’s towns. At the same time, on residents who describe themselves as Christian, Great Bircham sits higher than 92% of UK towns: 59%. For residents who describe themselves as White British, the comparison across England’s towns is 73%.
66% 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
Unpaid carers giving 50 hours or more a week: 9. Few places have so few adults who have never married: 16% here, fewer than in 99% of UK towns. As a yardstick, 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across England’s towns. The share of unpaid carers is 13%, against 8.7% across England’s towns.
44% of adults hold a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Across England’s towns, 34% of adults have a degree-level qualification; in Great Bircham, 44%, and 14% have none, against 18%.
Every neighbour of Great Bircham has a younger population
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Bircham | 213 | — | 62.8 | 46% | 15% |
| Dersingham | 4,753 | 5.3 mi | 58.6 | 41% | 17% |
| Snettisham | 2,709 | 5.5 mi | 59.1 | 41% | 17% |
| Heacham | 3,978 | 6.6 mi | 60.1 | 43% | 13% |
| Hunstanton | 4,230 | 7.7 mi | 61.3 | 44% | 12% |
| Gayton | 1,522 | 8.7 mi | 47.2 | 24% | 27% |
| Fakenham | 8,390 | 9.7 mi | 49.4 | 29% | 21% |
| King's Lynn | 47,604 | 11.1 mi | 39.3 | 18% | 30% |
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 Great Bircham’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 Great Bircham’s residents
What is the population of Great Bircham?
The 2021 Census counted 213 people in Great Bircham’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Great Bircham?
The median age was 62.8 at the 2021 Census. 5.6% of residents were 15 to 24 and 46% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Great Bircham?
96% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 88% across Norfolk’s towns. 6.1% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Great Bircham?
34% said they had no religion and 59% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.5% were Muslim and 4.7% didn’t answer.
Is Great Bircham good for families?
15% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Great Bircham’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.