Office of City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council
the Chief Intelligence Bulletin 30 July 2024
Executive
A profile of
Bradford District 2024
Bradford Metropolitan District covers an area of 366 square kilometres. In addition to
the city of Bradford itself, the District comprises a mixture of diverse neighbourhoods,
towns and villages. In contrast to the urban and rural settlements the remaining two-
thirds of the district is rural and comprises parks, farmland, woods and moorland.
Bradford is connected to the national motorway and rail networks and enjoys a close
proximity to Leeds Bradford International Airport.
Population profile
The latest population estimatesi from the Government’s Office for National Statistics
(ONS) show that 560,200 people live in Bradford District. Bradford is the fifth largest
local authority by population (after Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester).
The District’s population has increased by 7,600 (1.4%) since 2022.
Bradford has a youthful population – 27.9% of the District’s population is aged under
20 – the highest percentage in West Yorkshire and the seventh highest in England
(after the London borough of Barking and Dagenham, Slough Borough Council,
Luton Borough Council, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, Oldham Borough
Council and Birmingham City Council).
The population is 51% female and 49% male.
Median age
The median age is the mid-point where half the population is older and the other half
is younger. Bradford’s median age is 36.8, lower than the Regional (40.5) and
England average (40.4%). Only Leeds has a lower median age (36.3) in West
Yorkshire.
Population density
As the population increases the density (usually measured as the number of people
per square kilometre) increases. Bradford has had the highest population density in
West Yorkshire since 2004, followed closely by Leeds. Calderdale has the lowest
population density in West Yorkshire (38% of the Bradford figure) and the national
and regional rates are lower still.
Number of people per square kilometre
2004 2007 2011 2013 2016 2022
Bradford 1,324 1,370 1,428 1,435 1,453 1,508
Calderdale 536 547 561 566 574 571
Kirklees 972 997 1,035 1,047 1,065 1,071
Leeds 1,310 1,338 1,361 1,379 1,416 1,491
Wakefield 938 949 964 974 995 1,056
Yorkshire 343
& Humber 329 335 346 352 360
England 385 394 408 413 424 438
Ethnic group and religion profile
The results of the censusii found that the Asian or British Asian population of
Bradford had increased from 26.8% in 2011 to 32.1% in 2021 and the White British
population had decreased from 63.9% in 2011 to 56.7% in 2021. Bradford has the
second highest percentage of people nationally who identify as Pakistani (25.5%).
2.6% identify as Indian, 2.3% identify as Bangladeshi, 2.7% identify as Mixed or
Multiple ethnic groups, 2% identify as Black. The census included a new category,
Roma and 1,583 (0.3%) of the District’s population identify as Roma.
Main ethnic groups in Bradford District and England
Bradford Bradford England %
District - District %
total
Total population 546,412 100% 100%
White 334,004 61.1% 81.0%
White British 309,912 56.7% 73.5%
Irish 2,139 0.4% 0.9%
Gypsy or Irish Traveller 849 0.2% 0.1%
Roma 1,583 0.3% 0.2%
Any other White background 19,521 3.6% 6.3%
Mixed or Mixed or Multiple ethnic 15,006 2.7% 3.0%
Multiple groups
ethnic White and Asian 6,458 1.2% 0.8%
groups White and Black African 1,196 0.2% 0.4%
White and Black Caribbean 4,426 0.8% 0.9%
Any other Mixed or Multiple 2,926 0.5% 0.8%
ethnic groups
Asian or Asian or Asian British 175,664 32.1% 9.6%
Asian Bangladeshi 12,403 2.3% 1.1%
British Chinese 1,345 0.2% 0.8%
Indian 14,429 2.6% 3.3%
Pakistani 139,553 25.5% 2.8%
Any other Asian background 7,934 1.5% 1.7%
Black, Black, Black British, 10,978 2.0% 4.2%
Black Caribbean or African
British, African 7,061 1.3% 2.6%
Caribbean Caribbean 2,614 0.5% 1.1%
or African Any other Black, Black British 1,303 0.2% 0.5%
or Caribbean background
Other Other ethnic group 10,760 2.0% 2.2%
ethnic Arab 2,734 0.5% 0.6%
group Any other ethnic group 8,026 1.5% 1.6%
The following map at Lower Layer Super Output Area (LSOA) shows that the largest
percentages of the ‘Non-White’ British population live in the urban areas of Keighley and
Bradford City itself.
The question about religion in the 2021 Census was voluntaryiii. 33.4% of the
District’s population identified as Christian, 30.5% identified as Muslim, 0.9%
identified as Sikh, 0.9% identified as Hindu, 28.2% of the population said that they
had no religion and 5.5% chose not to provide an answer
Main religions in Bradford and England
Bradford District Bradford District England %
total number of %
people
Christian 182,566 33.4% 46.3%
Buddhist 959 0.2% 0.5%
Hindu 4,757 0.9% 1.8%
Jewish 254 0.0% 0.5%
Muslim 166,846 30.5% 6.7%
Sikh 4,834 0.9% 0.9%
Other religion 2,074 0.4% 0.6%
No religion 154,305 28.2% 36.7%
Religion not stated 29,816 5.5% 6.0%
Main language spoken
The census asked all residents aged 3 and over about their main language iv and
how well they could speak English. The main results show that 87.6% had English
as their main language, 7.2% speak a South Asian language as their main language
(2.6% speak Panjabi, 2.9% speak Urdu, 0.7% speak Bengali) 1.1% speak Polish as
their main language, 0.1% use Sign Language and 4% speak other languages.
Looking at the
data for
households
shows that in
83.1% of
Bradford
households all
the adults have
English as a main
language. This is
the lowest rate in
West Yorkshire
and lower than
the national
average of
89.3%.
Bradford also has the highest rate (1.8%) for households where no adults, but a child
aged between 3 and 15 has English as a main language.
6.1% of Bradford households have no one with English as a main language, the
national rate is 5%.
Health profile
Life expectancy at birth in Bradford Districtv is 76.6 for males and 81.1 for females.
These are lower than the rates for England of 78.9 for males and 82.8 for females.
Since 2001-3 rates for life expectancy at birth have increased by 2 years for males
and 1.9 years for females. Although the gap between male and female life
expectancy narrowed from 2003-6 to 2017-19, reaching the lowest figure of 3.7
years in 2011-13; by 2020-22 the gap had increased to 4.6 years, the same gap as
in 2001-3.
Bradford has the joint lowest life expectancy rates for males and the second lowest
life expectancy rates for females in West Yorkshire.
Life expectancy at birth for females and males - Bradford and
England 2001-3 to 2020-22
84
82
80
78
76
74
72
70
Bradford Female England Female Bradford Male England Male
Females in Bradford have lower healthy-life expectancies than regional and national
averages. Interestingly females in Bradford have slightly higher disability-free life
expectancies than the regional average, but lower than the national averages. Males
in Bradford are more likely to have lower healthy life expectancies and disability-free
life expectancies than both regional and national figures.
Females - disability free life expectancy and healthy life
expectancy 2018-20
60.6
Disability free life expectancy 58.5
60.9
81.5
Healthy life expectancy 82.2
83.1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Bradford District Yorks & Humber England
Males - disability free life expectancy and healthy life
expectancy 2018-20
58.5
Disability free life expectancy 60
62.4
77.3
Healthy life expectancy 78.4
79.4
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Bradford District Yorks & Humber England
An examination of life expectancy by national deprivation profilesvi shows that males
living in the 20% most deprived areas of Bradford have a life expectancy of 75.7
whereas males living in the 20% least deprived areas have a life expectancy of 83.3
years.
Females living in the 20% most deprived areas have a life expectancy of 79.8 years
and females living in the 20% least deprived areas have a life expectancy of 86.1
years.
Employment profile
The results from the April 2023 – March 2024 Annual Population Survey found that
67.4% of people aged 16 and over in Bradford District (excluding full-time students)
are in employmentvii and 5.2% were unemployed.
27.1% of the population aged 16 and over are economically inactive – this is higher
than the national (21.4%) and regional (24.3%) averages. The largest proportion of
economically inactive people aged 16-64 are long-term sick (24.8% of the total),
followed by Students (23.6%) and people looking after 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%).
Qualifications
37.5% of the Bradford District population aged 16-64 are qualified at level RQF4
(Higher apprenticeship, HNC, level 4 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 averages (6.6%)
Contact: Catriona Colborn
Email: catriona.colborn@bradford.gov.uk
Office of the Chief Executive,
City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council,
1st Floor, Britannia House, Bradford, BD1 1HY
Unless marked otherwise, you are free to use the content of this bulletin in your own work as long as
you quote the source.
The wording in this publication can be made available in other formats such as
large print.
i
Office for National Statistics (ONS), Mid-2023 population estimates, 15 July 2024
ii
ONS, 2021 Census, Table TS021 Ethnic group, 29 November 2022
iii
ONS, 2021 Census, Table TS030 Main religion, 29 November 2022
iv
ONS, 2021 Census, Table TS024, Main language spoken (detailed), 29 November 2022
v
ONS, Life expectancy estimates, all ages, UK, 11 January 2024
vi
ONS, English indices of Deprivation 2019, 26 September 2019
vii
ONS, Annual Population Survey April 2023 – March 2024
