The population of North Yorkshire has increased steadily from 570,100 in 2001 to 602,300 in 2015, a growth of around 5.6%. Although there was a small reduction in the population between 2013 and 2014, largely due to a short-term reduction in the military population in the county during that period, growth is expected to continue in subsequent years.

Population estimates are produced annual by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) at a variety of geographical levels, including those for local authority boundaries, Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and National Parks as well as for the smaller Middle Super Output Areas (MSOAs), wards and Lower Super Output Areas (LSOAs). These mid-year population estimates provide a snap-shot of the total population and a breakdown by age and sex. Annual population estimates at town and large settlement and at parish level are produced by North Yorkshire County Council, based on the ONS mid-year estimates. Information relating to each of these levels of geography can be found by selecting from the boxes above.

Information on the anticipated future population is available at district and county level from the separate sub-national population projections dataset. These are updated less frequently, generally every two years.

Population change across North Yorkshire is generally due to migration (between the county and other parts of the UK as well as international migration) rather than natural change (through births and deaths) which has a relatively small effect.

The number of people in the older age groups within the North Yorkshire is increasing. The proportion of the population aged 65 and over in 2011 was 20.7% and has risen to 23.3% in 2015. During the same period the over 85 age group increased by 8.3%. It makes up 3.1% of the total population in the 2015 estimates. The proportion of young people (aged 0 to 15) has remained around 17.0% while the proportion of those of working age (aged 16 to 64) has fallen from 62.1% in 2011 to 59.7% in 2015.

Further information

For more information on this data contact population.statistics@northyorks.gov.uk