Dartford has had the largest population increase out of everywhere in the South East, new figures have revealed.

The 2021 Census shows that, as of March 2021, Dartford’s population has grown by 20 per cent.

This makes it the second largest population growth in England following Tower Hamlets.

Dartford’s population size has increased from around 97,400 in 2011 to 116,800 in 2021.

This massively overshadows the overall population increase for England, which was just 6.6 per cent.

Nearby areas have seen much smaller population growths, for example Bexley’s population grew by just 6.3 per cent in the past 10 years.

Dartford has also seen the largest increase in England in the population aged under 15-years-old, with an increase of nearly 32 per cent since the last Census a decade ago.

This is significantly higher than the rest of the country, with the national average being just a 5 per cent increase in children aged under 15 years.

The figures also revealed that Dartford is the 18th most densely populated of the South East’s 64 local authority areas, with around 11 people living on each football pitch-sized area of land.

For context, the Office of National Statistics, which compiled the data, said that based on England’s population an average sized football pitch should home three people.

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