Changing population

Migration is the main driver of population change
Herefordshire’s population growth has been entirely driven by migration since the early 1990s. Each year, the number of deaths has exceeded the number of births, meaning that without inward migration, the county’s population would decline.

In recent years, net internal migration (movement within the UK) has become the leading contributor to population growth in Herefordshire. This marks a shift from the post-2004 EU expansion period, when international migration was the main driver.

Ethnicity
In 2021, 8.9% of the county’s total population identified themselves as being of an ethnicity other than ‘white: British’ - this is still very low compared to nationally (26%).

This change largely reflects the impact of the expansion of the EU in 2004 on a county which had historically seen very little international migration.

People of ‘white: other’ origin (not including British; Irish; Gypsy or Irish Traveller) made up the largest single minority group: 5.1% of the population and this group grew the most rapidly over the previous two decades.

Around 7,300 residents (4%) were born in countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007; just under half in Poland and a quarter in Romania.

Gypsy and Irish Travellers are an important minority
Historically, the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community has been one of the most significant minority groups in Herefordshire. Although relatively small in number, with 430 people in 2021, ‘Gypsy or Irish Traveller’ was the only minority ethnic group over-represented locally (0.2%) compared to England and Wales (0.1%).  A further 160 people (0.1%) identified as ‘Roma’, which was a smaller proportion than the 0.2% nationally.

Note - These estimates are based on the resident population, meaning that people who come to Herefordshire from outside the UK for less than a year will not be included in the figures - including the several thousand seasonal workers from overseas that come to work on Herefordshire farms over the spring and summer.