Herefordshire, County of

West Midlands · England
Location map showing Herefordshire, County of highlighted against neighbouring local authorities.
-9.4pp WBI 91.1% → 81.7% by 2051 (20-group HP, Census-direct, SNPP-constrained)
187,032 Population (2021 Census)
91.1% White British (2021)
85.5% -5.6pp White British (2041 projected)
81.7% -9.4pp White British (2051 projected)

Ethnic composition trajectory

Census 2011 and 2021 observed, Hamilton-Perry projections to 2061. Shaded band shows 80% confidence interval for White British share.

Ethnic composition, Herefordshire, County of

0 25 49 74 99 % Census 2021 Illustrative White British 77% White Other 16% Mixed 3% 20112021203120412051
White British White Other Mixed 80% CI

Ethnic composition: Herefordshire, County of

Census 2011, Census 2021, then Hamilton-Perry projections to 2051. Percentages.

2011
94%
2021
91%
2031 proj
89%
2041 proj
85%
10%
2051 proj
82%
13%
2061 proj
77%
16%
White British White Other Asian Black Mixed Other

Two-model comparison: White British, 2051

±4.3pp spread
Hamilton-Perry (HP) central 81.7% Cohort change ratios from Census 2011 to 2021. Demographic momentum only, no fertility convergence.
Cohort-component 77.5% Births by ethnicity-specific total fertility rate (TFR) with half-convergence to the national mean by 2061. Slower change.

Two independent models trained on the same Census base disagree by 4.3pp on White British share in Herefordshire, County of by 2051. HP captures observed 2011 to 2021 cohort dynamics. The cohort-component model adds explicit fertility assumptions that pull projections toward the national mean. The chart above shows HP. See the methodology for why both numbers are published.

Scenario explorer

Under different assumptions, White British share in Herefordshire, County of ranges from 59.9% to 77.5% by 2051: a 17.6pp spread.

Fertility
Low ~108k/yr
Principal ~315k/yr
High ~476k/yr
Constant Rates stay at current levels
Half convergence Move halfway to national avg
Full convergence Converge to national avg
Migration
Central scenario: WBI 66.5% by 2051

What’s driving change

Shift-share splits the change in White British share into national trend, age structure, and local factors. Dominant driver: national trend.

Why Herefordshire, County of is changing

-2.6pp
National trend
-6.4pp
Age structure
-1.1pp
Local migration
+4.9pp

White British change 2011–2021. Cyan = decline. Amber = growth.

Diversity index

low diversity Shannon entropy: 0.22 · Dissimilarity: 16.6

Religion

Census 2021 religious composition with projections to 2051.

Religious composition trajectory

11 30 48 67 86 % Census 2021 Christian 16% No religion 81% 2021203120412051
Christian No religion

Country of birth

UK-born vs foreign-born share, with projection to 2051.

Nativity trajectory

4 27 50 73 96 % Census 2021 UK-born 70% Foreign-born 30% 2021203120412051
UK-born Foreign-born

English proficiency

Census 2021

Main language English95.2%
Main language not English4.8%
Cannot speak English well0.9%
Cannot speak English at all0.2%
Total population 3+182,163

ONS Census 2021 (TS029) via NOMIS. Reference date 21 March 2021.

Projection

Projected non-English growth +5.6pp

Interpreter demand is manageable at current levels.

Service demand pressure

20/100 Stable Rank 283 of 320
Ethnic change8/20
Asylum0/20
School0/20
Language0/20
Housing11/20

New arrivals (NINo registrations)

Adults from overseas registering for a National Insurance number, rolling year ending Oct-25 to Dec-25. Herefordshire, County of ranks at the 74th percentile nationally for total NINo registrations.

Registrations (rolling year)1,684
Year-on-year -7.2%
NationalityRegistrationsShare
Kyrgyzstan 296 17.6%
Kazakhstan 281 16.7%
South Africa 223 13.2%
Tajikistan 159 9.4%
Ukraine 124 7.4%
Kenya 123 7.3%
Uzbekistan 103 6.1%
India 79 4.7%
Bulgaria 72 4.3%
Moldova 44 2.6%

DWP National Insurance number allocations to adult overseas nationals (Stat-Xplore NINO database).. NINo registrations measure new arrivals into the National Insurance system, not total foreign-born population. A NINo is allocated when an overseas national requests one, usually to start work or claim benefits, so the figure misses students and dependants who never enter the labour market. Small (LA × nationality) cells are suppressed by Stat-Xplore for disclosure control.

Arrivals over the last 24 years

Annual NINo registrations to adults from overseas in Herefordshire, County of from 2002 to 2025, alongside the UK total for context. The peak year was 2007 (3,094 registrations). Total over the full period: 48,399 registrations.

07741,5472,3213,094 0k268k537k805k1073k 200220052010201520202025 peak 2007 (3,094) low 2002 (137) Herefordshire, County of (annual) UK (annual)

DWP Stat-Xplore, NINO Registrations to Adult Overseas Nationals Entering the UK (Ninos cube), aggregated per calendar year by summing the four constituent quarters. Geography: ONS LA codes. Counts are NEW NINo registrations per calendar year. A NINo is issued once per person at the point of first work or claim, so this is a flow measure, not a stock. People who arrive but never register (some students, dependants, retirees) are excluded. Late registrations show in a later year than the year of arrival. Pre-2010 figures used a different administrative system; series is comparable but small methodological revisions to the early years are possible.

Who is arriving

Age and sex profile of 1,782 NINo registrations to adults from overseas in Herefordshire, County of in 2025. National comparison shown alongside.

Age at registration

Less than 18 2.5%
18-24 18.9%
25-29 23.2%
30-34 20.9%
35-39 14.6%
40-44 9.9%
45-49 5.5%
50-54 2.5%
55-59 1.0%
60 or over 1.0%

Herefordshire, County of   UK marker

Sex

Male 54.7% Female 45.3%

Male share is 0.3pp higher than the UK average (54.4%).

DWP Stat-Xplore Ninos cube, LA × Age band × Sex, rolling year ending Q4 2025 (Jan-Dec 2025 calendar year). Counts are NEW NINo registrations to adult overseas nationals. Age is age at NINo registration, not age at arrival. The registration may follow arrival by months. 'Less than 18' is rare in this dataset because the published Ninos series is filtered to adult overseas nationals; values reflect young workers/claimants close to 18. 'Unknown' age is a small residual.

Why people are coming

For each of the top arriving nationalities in Herefordshire, County of, this is the national mix of visa routes used in 2025. It shows whether arrivals from that country are typically students, workers, on family routes (including refugee family reunion), or in some other category. Local-authority breakdowns of visa routes are not published, so we apply the national mix at nationality level.

Kyrgyzstan 296 in Herefordshire, County of (17.6%)
Mostly workers UK total 4,990 NINos · 12,872 non-visitor visas issued 2025
Kazakhstan 281 in Herefordshire, County of (16.7%)
Mostly workers UK total 2,905 NINos · 7,305 non-visitor visas issued 2025
South Africa 223 in Herefordshire, County of (13.2%)
Mixed routes, led by workers UK total 3,346 NINos · 8,614 non-visitor visas issued 2025
Tajikistan 159 in Herefordshire, County of (9.4%)
Mostly workers UK total 1,148 NINos · 5,943 non-visitor visas issued 2025
Ukraine 124 in Herefordshire, County of (7.4%)
Most Ukrainians arrive on in-country Ukraine schemes not captured in entry-clearance data UK total 13,167 NINos · 2,311 non-visitor visas issued 2025

Home Office, Immigration system statistics, year ending March 2026 (released 21 May 2026); Vis_D02 (Entry clearance visa outcomes by nationality, visa type, and outcome). Joined with DWP Stat-Xplore NINo registrations rolling year ending Q4 2025. Visa grants are issued at the point of entry-clearance application and are NOT the same population as NINo registrations. Visitor visas (2.24 million in 2025) do not lead to NINo and are excluded from the route-mix percentages so the Work / Study / Family / Other proportions are interpretable. Humanitarian routes (BN(O), Ukraine schemes, Resettlement, Asylum) are surfaced as national totals only because the same nationality split is not provided in this dataset. EU/EEA nationals largely fall outside entry-clearance for short stays, so their NINo flow is materially understated by visa data alone.

How Herefordshire, County of changed: 2011 to 2021

Two snapshots from two consecutive Censuses, ten years apart. Population changed from 183,477 in 2011 to 187,035 in 2021 (+1.9%). Non-UK-born residents went from 12,248 (6.7% of population) to 16,076 (8.6%).

Group 2011 2021 Change
UK-born 171,229 93.3% 170,959 91.4% -270
Ireland-born 566 0.3% 482 0.3% -84
EU pre-2001 (France, Germany, Italy, etc.) 1,912 1% 2,093 1.1% +181
EU 2001-2011 accession (Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, etc.) 5,060 2.8% 7,542 4% +2,482
Rest of World 4,710 2.6% 5,959 3.2% +1,249

Source: ONS Census 2011 KS204EW (NOMIS NM_611_1) and Census 2021 TS012 (NOMIS NM_2032_1), aligned to broad country-of-birth groups. 2011 data uses 2011 LA boundaries; 2021 data uses 2023 boundaries. LAs whose ONS code changed between Censuses (Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, North Yorkshire, Somerset reorganisations) are not in this comparison.

Working and not working, by passport group

Census 2021 employment status of Herefordshire, County of residents aged 16 and over, by passport held. Three numbers shown per group:

Passport group Pop 16+ In work Unemployed Inactive Employment rate
UK passport 122,573 59.2% 2.2% 38.6% 96.9%
Irish passport 430 60.9% 1.6% 37.4% 98.1%
EU member country passport 7,385 84.1% 2.7% 13.1% 97.2%
Rest of Europe (non-EU) 127 66.1% 2.4% 31.5% 96.6%
African passport 244 73.0% 7.4% 19.7% 91.6%
Middle East / Asian passport 795 68.9% 5.9% 25.2% 93.4%
Americas / Caribbean passport 308 58.8% 5.2% 36.0% 91.8%
Oceania / Antarctica passport 145 71.0% 0.0% 29.0% 100.0%
No passport held 25,122 33.3% 2.7% 64.0% 92.8%

ONS Census 2021 RM021, Economic activity status by passports held, by local authority district. NOMIS NM_2121_1. Stock measure on Census Day (21 March 2021). Passports-held is a proxy for nationality (UK = UK passport holder). Employment rate excludes full-time students from the denominator (the standard ONS definition). The 'inactive' category includes retirees, full-time students who do not work, those looking after family, long-term sick, and other reasons.

Schools, first language

Across 110 state-funded schools in Herefordshire, County of (25,073 pupils, 2024/25), 11.7% have a first language other than English.

Pupils with first language other than English2,753 (11.7%)
Pupils with first language English20,810 (88.2%)
Free school meals20.7%

Source: DfE Schools, Pupils and their Characteristics 2024/25, school-level data aggregated to district. EAL (English as Additional Language) is a household-level signal: children born in the UK to non-English-speaking households count as EAL.

West Midlands labour market

Payrolled employments in the West Midlands region (December 2024). Provides Herefordshire, County of with regional context. Local-authority RTI is not published; the region is the smallest geography for HMRC's nationality breakdown.

Total employments2,780,000
Non-UK share18.6%
5-year change · Non-EU +191,300
5-year change · EU -23,800

Top industries by non-UK share (West Midlands)

Administrative and support services 33.5%
Transportation and storage 28.6%
Accommodation and food service activities 24.2%
Health and social work 24.2%
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing 22.2%

Source: HMRC Real Time Information via ONS, payrolled employments by region and industrial sector, July 2014 to December 2024. Counts are employments not employees; suppressed cells appear as missing.

Crime

Police-recorded crime rates per 1,000 population, Year ending March 2024. Herefordshire, County of ranks at the 23th percentile nationally for total crime rate.

Total crime / 1k57.9
Violent crime / 1k24.6
Theft / 1k16.0
ASB / 1k14.1
Drug offences / 1k1.7
Year-on-year -10.1%

ONS recorded crime by Community Safety Partnership area, year ending March 2024 (Home Office police recorded crime). LA-level rates are CSP rates inherited where multiple LAs share a CSP.. Police recorded crime is shaped by recording practice, reporting rates, and policing priority. Cross-area comparison must take account of those factors. Hate crime and quality-of-life detail are not in this file.

Adult social care

Council ASC spend, residential placements, and quality-of-life outcomes, 2023-24. Spend per head sits at the 88th percentile nationally.

Gross spend / head£562
Residential / 10k 65+160

NHS Digital ASCFR & SALT data tables 2023-24 (CASSR-level). Quality-of-life and DToC fields omitted (DToC discontinued post-COVID; ASCOF measures live in a separate publication).. ASC sits with upper-tier authorities only (counties, unitaries, London boroughs, mets); ~153 LAs in coverage and districts are not present. Spending is shaped by demographic composition, deprivation, and informal-care availability and direct cross-area comparison must control for those.

Health by ethnic group

Share reporting "not good health" in each of Herefordshire, County of's largest ethnic groups, Census 2021.

White 19.5%
White: English 20.0%
White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller 10.4%

ONS Census 2021 (RM043 - General health by ethnic group by age) via NOMIS. All ages, no age-standardisation: younger ethnic-group populations will show lower rates partly because they're younger, not necessarily because they're healthier. Group labels shortened for display.

Special educational needs

EHCPs and primary need breakdown, 2024-25 academic year. 5-year EHCP growth at the 39th percentile nationally.

EHCPs / 10k136
Total EHCPs2,546
5-yr growth +52.6%

DfE Special educational needs in England, academic year 2024/25 (sen_phase_type_.csv + sen_secondary_need_.csv).. EHCP responsibility sits with upper-tier authorities only, ~153 LAs in coverage. Rate-per-10k uses total LA population (Census 2021) as denominator since school-age population is not in the ethnic-projections feed; cross-LA comparison is therefore directional rather than absolute. Rising EHCP counts may reflect improved identification, changes in diagnostic criteria, increased parental awareness, or genuine prevalence change.

How NHS care for overseas residents is funded (national context)

Most non-UK residents in Herefordshire, County of pay for NHS care up-front through the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS), which is added to most visa applications. Asylum seekers, refugees, ILR holders and Irish citizens are exempt. Visitors and undocumented residents are charged at 150% of the national NHS tariff. The figures below are England + Wales national totals; per-LA NHS cost-recovery is not centrally published.

Current IHS rate (adult, per year) £1,035
IHS rate, students/under-18s (per year) £776
IHS revenue 2024/25 (£m) £1,315.6m
Cumulative IHS revenue 2015–2024 £6.9bn
IHS rate history
  • From 2015-04-06: £200/year adult, £150/year students/under-18s
  • From 2019-01-08: £400/year adult, £300/year students/under-18s
  • From 2020-10-27: £624/year adult, £470/year students/under-18s
  • From 2024-02-06: £1035/year adult, £776/year students/under-18s
Indicative charges for visitors and undocumented residents

Maternity care is classified as "immediately necessary": it cannot be refused or delayed for charging, but it is invoiced afterwards at 150% of the NHS national tariff.

  • Routine vaginal delivery, no complications: £3,000–£5,500
  • Caesarean section: £5,000–£7,500
  • Premature birth with NICU stay: £15,000–£30,000+
  • Antenatal appointment: £150–£400 each

Sources: NHS (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015 (as amended); Home Office IHS caseworker guidance (Sept 2025); House of Commons Library briefing CBP-7274; NHS England NHS Payment Scheme (national tariff). Approximately 80% of identified overseas-visitor debt across all NHS treatment is uncollected (NAO, follow-up scrutiny).

Economic profile

Avg employment rate57.9%
Avg home ownership66.1%
Avg social rent13.5%
Degree or above32.2%
No qualifications17.8%

Housing

Composition today

How dwellings in Herefordshire, County of are occupied. Single-person households and houses in multiple occupation are the two cleanest signals.

Single-person discount take-up32.9%
Dwellings on 25% single-person discount28,800
HMO dwellings (Census 2021)150
HMOs per 1,000 population0.80

Sources: MHCLG Council Taxbase 2024 (CTB1, snapshot 7 October 2024) for single-person discount; ONS Census 2021 RM192 for HMO dwellings. HMO Census numbers reflect dwellings classified as HMO on Census Day; current licensing registers held by individual councils are not centrally published.

Tenure by ethnic group

Household ownership rates for Herefordshire, County of's largest ethnic groups, Census 2021.

White: owned 68.0%
White: English: owned 69.6%
White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller: owned 36.3%

ONS Census 2021 (RM134 - Tenure by ethnic group, Household Reference Persons) via NOMIS. Group labels shortened for display.

Tenure projection

Census 2021 tenure patterns by ethnicity, projected to 2041 from demographic composition change.

Ownership (2021)66.1%
Social rent (2021)13.5%
Private rent (2021)18.9%
Ownership (2041)64.4%
Social rent (2041)13.6%
Social rent change0pp

High foreign-born population growth will drive additional housing demand, particularly in the private rented sector.

Westminster constituencies

Parliamentary constituencies overlapping Herefordshire, County of, sorted by share of LA postcodes the constituency covers.

Updated 14 Apr 2026 · Census 2021, ONS SNPP, DfE School Census