The Office on National Statistics (ONS) has today published a report from its Census 2021, exploring the characteristics of people who identified as Cornish.
In the census, people were able to identify as Cornish through write-in response options under the ethnic group, national identity and main language questions.
117,350 people identified as Cornish through the national identity, main language or ethnic group questions. 88% of people who identified as Cornish were located in Cornwall – 18.1% of Cornwall’s population.
According to the findings, the largest concentrations of people who identified as Cornish tended to live further west in Cornwall. For instance, in Penzance North almost 1 in 4 people identified as Cornish.
People who identified as Cornish had an older age profile – those located within Cornwall had a median age of 49 and those located outside Cornwall had a median age of 46, compared with a median age of 40 for the population of England and Wales.
In Cornwall, people who identified as Cornish were more likely to work in skilled trades than people in Cornwall who did not identify as Cornish (18.1% compared with 14.7%). 16.7% of people in Cornwall who identified as Cornish reported having no qualifications compared with 4.9% of people outside Cornwall who identified as Cornish.
To read the full report, click here.
