The latest population figures produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on 15 July 2024 show that an estimated 560,200 people live in Bradford District - an increase of 7,600 people (1.4%) since the mid-2022 population estimates were published.
Bradford District is the fifth largest metropolitan district (in terms of population) in England, after Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester.
The increase in the District's population is largely due to migration (there have been around 5,400 more people coming to live in Bradford than leaving for other parts of the UK and overseas) and "natural change" (there have been around 1,600 more births than deaths).
A large proportion of Bradford's population is dominated by the younger age groups. More than one-quarter (27.9%) of the District's population is aged less than 20 and nearly seven in ten people are aged less than 50. Bradford has the seventh highest percentage (25.5%) of the under 20 population in England after the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, Slough Borough Council, Luton Borough Council, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council and Oldham Borough Council and Birmingham City Council.
The population of Bradford is ethnically diverse. The largest proportion of the district's population (56.7%) identifies themselves as White British. The district has the second largest proportion of people of Pakistani ethnic origin (25.5%) in England.
The largest religious group in Bradford is Christian (33.4% of the population) followed by Muslims (30.5%). 28.2% stated that they had no religion.
There are 209,900 households in the Bradford district. Most households own their own home (31.9% outright and 29.9% with a mortgage or loan). The percentage of privately rented households is 23%. 30.8% of households were single person households.
Information from the Annual Population Survey April 2023 - March 2024 found that 67.4% of people aged 16 and over in Bradford District (excluding full-time students) were in employment and 5.2% were unemployed.
27.1% of the population aged 16 and over were economically inactive - this was higher than the national (21.4%) and regional (24.3%) averages. The largest proportion of economically inactive people aged 16-64 were long-term sick (24.8% of the total) followed by Students (23.6%) and people looking for the family or home (21.9%).
The largest percentage of people in employment (26%) gave their occupation as ‘professional', followed by associate professional occupations (16.3%).
37.5% of the Bradford District population aged 16-64 were qualified at level RQF4 (Higher apprenticeship, HNC, level4 NVQ) or above. This is lower than the regional (41.2%) and national (47.3%) averages.
11.8% of people have no qualifications - higher than the regional (7.6%) and national (6.6%) averages.
Publisher
Bradford Council
Frequency
Annual
Licence
UK Open Government Licence (OGLv3)
More information
- More information is available on the Understanding Bradford District website