COLCHESTER is booming.

Its popularity has manifested itself in tangible figures of how many people now live in the city.

The borough has seen its population swell by more than 15,000 people over the past ten years, the latest census data has revealed.

The figures also show 131,994 people lived in the borough in 1981, with 192,700 people calling Colchester their home according to census 2021 data - a rise of 45.9 per cent.

Colchester Council says investment from central government is needed to match a growing population which has expanded by 11 per cent since 2011.

But how do these latest figures compare to estimates which are used by decision makers in central and local government to understand their communities’ needs?

Mid-year population estimates are produced annually by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and are based on the most recent census.

The ONS rolls forward information from registers for births, deaths and migration surveys to produce each year’s estimate – but it means the further away from the census, the more uncertain they are.

ONS statisticians estimated there were 197,200 people of all ages living in Colchester as of mid-2020 – above the 2021 census figure of 192,700.

Snapshot data from the census in March 2021 tells us there were 34,300 (17.8 per cent) over-65s living in the area, compared to the 34,056 (17.3 per cent) estimated by the ONS.

There are fewer males in Colchester than estimated by the ONS – 2021 census results revealed 94,300 males (48.9 per cent) were usual residents, while the mid-2020 prediction was 98,344 (49.9 per cent).

The latest estimates suggested there were 98,856 (50.1 per cent) females in the area, but on census day, 98,400 (51.1 per cent) said Colchester was their home.

The ONS says population statistics are “vital in making a range of decisions and informing public debate".

During the coronavirus pandemic, estimates have been used to measure vaccine uptake at a national and regional level, while they are also used to measure unemployment rates, forecast pensions and make decisions about local services – such as the number of school places of the provision of health services for an ageing population.

The 2020 mid-year population estimate for England and Wales as a whole stood at 59.7 million – very close to the 2021 census figure of 59.6 million.

The ONS noted that population change in certain areas "may reflect how the coronavirus pandemic affected people’s choice of usual residence on census day".

“These changes might have been temporary for some and more long-lasting for others," it added.

The population of England and Wales rose by 3.5 million to 59.6 million in the last decade, the 2021 census data revealed.

The 6.3 per cent increase signals a slowdown in population growth over the past ten years.

The previous census in 2011 showed the number of people living in England and Wales rose by 7.8 per cent in the decade before.

The 2021 survey, carried out on March 21 last year, came against the backdrop of both Brexit, which has seen restrictions on immigration, and the coronavirus pandemic.

Pete Benton, ONS deputy national statistician, said the latest census figures “begin to paint a rich and detailed snapshot of the nation and how we were living during the pandemic”.

He said: “Since census day, the world has continued to change.

“People continue to move home, some people will have left the country, others will have arrived.

“People will have changed jobs, some of us now work in offices once again, while others continue to work from home.

“We need to understand all of this and more.”