Chelmsford has fewer older people than most parts of Essex.

That is one statistic in the latest edition of Essex Trends, a county council report which tracks the lifestyles of people in the county.

It shows that in 1997 - the latest year for which figures are available - the proportion of Chelmsford's population aged 65 and over was 14 per cent, or lower.

This contrasted with Tendring at 26 per cent and Southend, where the percentage for that age group was 19 per cent.

In Braintree, 14.7 per cent of the population is 65 or over, in Maldon, 15.9 per cent and in Uttlesford, 14.7 per cent.

By far the biggest age group across the county comprises people aged between 30 and 64, who form 45.4 per cent of the population.

The review also shows that at mid-1997 the population of Essex reached 1,595,300, an increase of 9,300, or 0.6 per cent, in a year.

The population of Chelmsford, at 155,000 showed a drop of 1,100, or 0.7 per cent.

But the borough council said the figures used between official counts carried out at 10-year intervals were estimates and could vary from year to year.

Braintree had a population of 127,800, Maldon, 55,200, and Uttlesford, 68,800.

Overall, in the seven years between 1990 and 1997 the county's population grew by 52,900, about 7,600 a year. The largest increase, at 13,800, was in Southend. Colchester, with 10,300, and Braintree, with 9,500, had the next biggest increases.

Chelmsford grew by 2,100 over that period, Maldon by 2,200 and Uttlesford by 3,000. The numbers of people living in Harlow and Castle Point fell over the time.

Essex Trends, now in its fourth year of publication, also contains information on the economy, education, health and social services, protection of the community, transport, the environment, heritage and culture, and local government.

Copies cost £6.50 from the Corporate Inform-ation Unit at County Hall, Chelmsford. Call 01245 430053 for details.

Reference copies are available in libraries.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.