Official Statistics

Population Statistics for Rural England

Population Statistics for Rural England - January 2026

• From: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
• Published: 14 March 2023
• Last updated: 14 January 2026 — See all updates

Applies to England

Documents

Statistical Digest of Rural England - Population

PDF, 1020 KB, 66 pages

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Population Supplementary Data Tables

ODS, 1.07 MB

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Statistical Digest of Rural England - Population

ODT, 1.33 MB

This file is in an OpenDocument format

Details

A compendium of population statistics for Rural and Urban areas in England.

The January 2026 release of this report includes analysis updates for all topics within this theme, except for Internal Migration. Mid-year estimates have been updated, and analysis has been reorganised by geography.

The supplementary data tables provide additional statistics for each section of the Digest, using the rural-urban classification categories. The Local Authority data tables supply the disaggregated datasets, used to conduct analysis in the Digest, at a Local Authority level where feasible.

Defra statistics: rural

Email rural.statistics@defra.gov.uk

You can also contact us via Twitter: https://twitter.com/DefraStats

Previous editions

Copies of the Population Statistics for Rural England publication are available from the National Archive.

Population Statistics for Rural England, 01 May 2025

Population Statistics for Rural England, 18 March 2025

Population Statistics for Rural England, 14 March 2023

Statistics up to 2022 can be found here.

Published 14 March 2023

Last updated 14 January 2026 + show all updates

1. 14 January 2026

   Published today, updated population statistics based on new mid-year analysis.

2. 1 May 2025

   Published today, updated population statistics based on the new 2021 Census-based rural-urban classification.

3. 18 March 2025

   Published today, summary headline statistics on population from the 2021 Census.

4. 14 March 2023

   First published.