Demographics and Communities
Location
Hillfields is an area in Coventry. The data in this profile is aggregated from small areas on a best-fit basis, and therefore may differ slightly from other sources. This profile covers all Hillfields. The map below illustrates the Hillfields neighbourhood, the area bounded by the red line is the area used for the statistics described in this profile.
Population
Why is this important?
It is important to understand how Coventry’s population and demographics are changing so that local communities and organisations can ensure that the city has the right services to meet the needs of its people.
What is the local picture?
How does it compare?
Hillfields is an area of growth in the city, in the past 10 years, there has been a 14.4% population increase, and is home to an estimated 13,400 residents. Between the 2011 and 2021 censuses, the population of Hillfields has increased by 1,689 additional residents from 11,753 to 13,442. This means that the population has grown faster here than it has across the city overall (8.9%) and nationally (6.6%).
The population growth rates vary across the different areas of Hillfields. The parts that have experienced the highest population growth are ‘Hillfields - Cambridge Street’ (25%) and ‘Hillfields Village’ (25%), these areas are amongst the faster growing parts of the city, significantly higher than the city average.
Hillfields is the most densely populated area of the city. It has a population density of 10,870 people per square kilometre, more than three times higher than the density for Coventry overall, at 3,500 people per square kilometre.
Hillfields has a notably young population, with a median age of 24, compared to 35 for Coventry and 40 across England. This is largely due to a high number of students and young adults. Over a quarter (27.8%) of residents are aged 16-24, compared to 15.4% citywide. Children aged 0-15 (22.5%) are also more prevalent than in Coventry overall (19.8%), while only 5.5% of the population is aged 65+, significantly below city (14.6%) and national averages (18.6%).
The number of working age residents has been increasing, at a higher rate than for Coventry overall. Looking at population change over the 10 years between the 2011 and 2021 censuses, the growth by age group in Hillfields is unlike the experience of the city overall, there was significant growth in the number of 18–24-year-olds (16.4%). The Hillfields population has changed differently from Coventry overall in that it has experienced greater increases amongst residents aged 35-49 years (25.8% vs 6.4% for Coventry overall) and 50-64 years (28.3% increase vs 17.9% for Coventry overall), but a relatively low increase in the number of older residents aged 65+ (1.4% increase compared to 8.2% for Coventry overall).
The population pyramid diagram below illustrates how the age profile of the Hillfields population differs from Coventry overall.
Births in Hillfields have been declining, with 193 in 2021 compared to 258 in 2015. The birth rate is slightly lower than Coventry's average, likely due to the large student population. The area's general fertility rate is 50.2 per 1,000 females aged 15-44, below the city average of 52.0. Fertility rates vary, with student-heavy areas having lower rates, while some neighbourhoods have some of the highest in the city.
Hillfields is home to a relatively high number of students. The Census 2021 counted 3,244 ‘school children and full-time students aged 18+’, making up 24.1% of the total population of the area, compared to 9.8% across Coventry overall. 11.2% of the total population live in student halls of residence (Coventry average 2.9%) and 6.3% live in all student households (Coventry average 2.8%), the rest of this student population live in households with other arrangements.
In Hillfields, aside from student households, there are high numbers of one-person working-age households (25.9% vs. 18.8% in Coventry), this equates to 1,127 households out of a total of 4,352 and lone parent households with dependent children 11.4% (498) of all households compared to 8.3% across Coventry overall. Households of just older people are less common here. One-person households or a single-family household in which all people are aged over 65 make up 6.6% (286) and 1.3% (58) of all households in Hillfields compared to 11.6% and 6.8% across Coventry overall.
Hillfields has a larger average household size (2.72) compared to Coventry (2.48). One-person households are the most common, making up 32.4%, slightly above the city average of 30.4%. Large households (5 or more people) are more frequent, accounting for 16.1% of households, compared to 9.4% citywide. Household size varies, with some neighbourhoods below average and others amongst the highest in the city. Household size is particularly high in the ‘Hillfields - Cambridge Street’ area, the second highest in city, at 3.55, and also high in the area ‘City Farm North’ at an average of 3.13 people per household.
We can understand more about our communities by using Geodemographic segmentation. The Acorn geodemographic profiler data model from CACI ltd categorises all UK households into 6 main categories ranked from most to least wealthy. All people living in Hillfields are categorised in the three less wealthy groups of the six categories. There are three groups/types of households that dominate the area, making up more than two-thirds of the local population; the three in order down to least wealthy type are:
- ‘Steadfast Community –Urban Diversity’ (20.6% of local population, Coventry7.9%),
- ‘Stretched Society –Tenant Living’ (18.7% of local population, Coventry 11.0%) and
- ‘Low Income Living – Cash-strapped families’ (people living in this type of household make up 30% of the population of Hillfields compared to 7.9% across Coventry overall).
Acorn Wellbeing divides households into types according to their health needs, Residents in Hillfields have a higher percentage of residents in the “At Risk” and “Caution” groups. The four main groups Acorn Wellbeing divides residents into are:
- Health Challenges (highest levels of illness, often areas with higher elderly population),
- At Risk,
- Caution and
- Healthy (more affluent neighbourhoods with low levels of illness given their age).
Residents in Hillfields largely fall between group 2 “At Risk” (46.1% compared to 38.7% across Coventry overall) and group 3 “Caution” (19% compared to 33.2% across Coventry overall). 14.8% of the population live in households in group 4 “Healthy” which is relatively the same as the city overall at 15.3% and about 11% of the population fall in households under group 1 “Health Challenges”.
Further analysis reveals that the three most notable types in this area are:
- ‘At Risk – Anxious Adversity’ (Urban communities, multi-ethnic, families with children; 18% of local population, Coventry 6%).
- ‘Caution – Borderline Behaviours’ (young singles and couples, ethnically diverse, average alcohol, and smoking; 16% of local population, Coventry 19%).
- ‘Healthy– Gym and Juices’ (Young professionals… relatively comfortable… multi-ethnic… some students, some isolation, 15% of local population, Coventry 3%).
Diversity
Why is this important?
The growth of new communities can change the age and ethnic profile of the city, which can have an impact on demand for local services such as schools and GP surgeries and is influenced by of many complex factors, such as living and working conditions, social inclusion, ethnicity, socioeconomic position, education, and cultural factors.
What is the local picture?
How does it compare?
Coventry as a city is becoming increasingly diverse, Hillfields even more so with 79.6% of the population being part of an ethnic minority group compared to 44.7% in Coventry as a whole. The population of Hillfields is amongst the most diverse of all neighbourhoods in the city. ‘Ethnic minority’ is used to refer to all ethnic group except the white British group. Ethnic minority groups include White minorities, including White Irish, Gypsy, Roma, and Irish Traveller groups, and the ‘White Other’ group. According to the 2021 Census, 79.6% of people were from an ethnic minority group, which is a 9.8 percentage point increase from the 2011 Census at 69.7%.
Black African ethnicity is the largest minority in Hillfields, making up 17.7% of the population (up 3.8% since 2011), compared to 7.0% in Coventry. This group has grown the most in the last 10 years and has remained the highest minority group in Hillfields for more than a decade. Many other ethnic groups are represented in the people who live here, the biggest according to population number are Asian Indian (11.2%, Coventry 9.3%), ‘White Other’ (10.5%, Coventry 8.2%), Asian Bangladeshi (9.7%, Coventry 1.2%), and Asian Pakistani (6.6%, Coventry 3.7%). The White British population decreased by 9.8 percentage points, from 30.3% in 2011 to 20.4% in 2021, a drop of 800 people.
In the 2021 school census, 88.8% of Hillfields pupils were from ethnic minority groups, with the largest groups being Black African (23.8%), Bangladeshi (12.9%), and "Any other Asian background" (9.6%).
Hillfields has a diverse religious population. Among respondents (95% answered the question on the 2021 Census), 18.2% reported having no religion, lower than Coventry's 31.6%. Islam is the most common religion in Hillfields (40%) compared to 11% across Coventry overall. This is followed by Christianity (33.6%) compared t0 46.8% in Coventry, Hinduism (5.0%) compared to 4.2% citywide and Sikhism (2.1% vs Coventry 5.3%).
There are differences between the neighbourhoods within Hillfields. Muslim populations are highest in 'Hillfields - Cambridge Street' (66.2%), 'City Farm North' (55.3%), and 'Hillfields Village' (41.3%). The Christian population is higher in the neighbourhoods: 'Swans Lane Thacknall Street' (38.7%), 'Coronation Road Swanswell Basin' (36.3%), and 'Canterbury Raglan Streets' (36.6%).
International migration, people moving from overseas, has been an important part of population growth in this area. This is a long-standing trend that continues in the last few years, as more people have relocated to this area than most other parts of Coventry since 2011. Coventry's new communities are from diverse backgrounds, and they consist of people who relocate for work purposes, international students, people who apply for asylum and refugees, and others.
The area has welcomed many new communities, with 49.5% of all residents of the area born outside the UK, compared to the city average of 27.9%. Notably, 20.8% were born in Asian countries, 14.2% were born in EU countries and 12.3% were born in African countries, while the city averages are 10.5%, 10.1% and 5.5% respectively. Residents come from a diverse range of countries of birth, with 18 countries having at least 100 Hillfields residents. The most common countries represented are India (6.3% of all residents), Bangladesh (4.2% of all residents), Romania (3.5% of all residents), Pakistan (2.9% of all residents), Nigeria (2.8% of all residents) and Poland (2.6% of all residents).
Between 2011 and 2021, Hillfields' population grew by 400 UK-born residents and 1,300 non-UK-born residents. Over half of the increase in non-UK residents came from EU countries (700), with 400 from Asia and 150 from Africa.
Hillfields is growing faster than other areas, largely due to international migration, including many international students. According to Census 2021 data, 24.1% of Hillfields' population were school children or full-time students aged 18 or over, compared to Coventry’s 9.8%. Of course, many of these students are from the UK, internal migration contributes to population growth as well as international migration.
Hillfields has seen a higher-than-average rate of international migration in recent years. Newly arrived communities are a key part of Hillfields’ demographics, perhaps more so than any other part of Coventry. According to the 2021 Census, 28.5% of residents were born outside the UK and arrived in the UK in the previous 10 years, compared to Coventry’s 14.2%.
Annual migration to Hillfields has consistently been above the city average. Although it is hard to measure international migration accurately due to data collection challenges, the number of foreign nationals living in Coventry and registering for a National Insurance Number (NINo) gives an idea of this and how the migration trends have changed over the years. In 2022, 1,907 foreign nationals in Hillfields registered for a National Insurance Number (NINo), one of the highest figures in Coventry. In 2022, this was 1,907 people for Hillfields, a number amongst the highest of all Coventry areas. This marks a sharp rise from pre-pandemic levels, similar to the rest of Coventry, where the total number also increased to a level almost twice as high as before the pandemic.
The country of origin of people moving to Hillfields and newly registering for a National Insurance Number (NINo) has changed in recent years, with the number moving from South Asian countries driving the increase in 2022. Out of a total of 1,907 people in the most recent year for which we have data, more than half, 1,026, were people from South Asian countries; 420 from Sub-Saharan African countries and 174 from EU countries. Before the pandemic a much lower number were from South Asian countries and most were from EU counties; in 2019 out of a total of 927 people, 477 were from EU countries, 161 from South Asian countries and 145 from Sub-Saharan African countries.
The city has a long history of providing safety to those fleeing conflict and persecution. Hillfields is a particular area of Coventry that homes asylum seekers. Although overall numbers are relatively low, asylum seekers also add to the population growth of the area, with approximately 300 people living here in August 2023, Hillfields is one the city’s areas that homes the most asylum seekers. While the total numbers are relatively low compared to other types of international migration, this is an important part of the area’s demographic when it comes to health and care needs. Coventry as a city supports more asylum seekers than most other local authorities in the country. At more than 2,000 people, Coventry supports the highest proportion of asylum seekers per head of population in the West Midlands region.
Hillfields has a greater and increasing diversity of languages spoken by its residents, which could be a barrier to accessing services. In 2021, for a third of all residents (33.0%) English in not their main language, compared to 17.5% across Coventry as a whole. 25.1% of households had no one who spoke English as their main language, compared to 10.7% of households in Coventry as a whole. We should be mindful that this doesn’t mean people can’t speak English, although a relatively high number of people in the area can’t speak English well, 7.2% of Hillfields residents said they could not speak English well and 1.1% said they could not speak English at all, while in Coventry as a whole these figures were 3.0% and 0.5%.
For school children who live in Hillfields, the proportion who speak English as their main language is even lower at 31.8%, consequently 68.2% do not speak English as their main language, this is much higher than the city overall (34.2%).
The Coventry Household Survey shows that Hillfields has a stronger sense of community than the city average, with 70% agreeing that people get along well (compared to 63% for Coventry), though this is down from 79% in 2018. However, only 41% of Hillfields residents feel a strong sense of belonging, lower than the city's 54%. After COVID-19, just 3% of Hillfields residents felt a stronger connection to their community, compared to 13% citywide.
The Household Survey 2022 found that 55% of residents in Hillfields agreed that there are chances to get actively involved in improving their local community, higher than respondents across all of Coventry (38%). 43% of residents said they were likely to get more involved in the next 12 months, compared to 51% across Coventry overall. Volunteering decreased slightly from 26% pre-pandemic to 22%, close to the city’s 21%.
Cultural participation in Hillfields improved in 2022, according to the household survey, with 65% engaging in activities, up from 63% in 2018, similar to the city's 66%. Low’ or ‘no’ participation is defined as respondents who had not engaged in any of a list of cultural activities at least three times in the previous 12 months. Engagement with City of Culture events was about average: 39% attended an event in the city centre (city average 45%) and 27% attended a local event, matching the city average.