Census data shows student numbers plus disability and carer rates in Halton
Student numbers were lower and disability rates higher than average in the borough.
Stock image of a class taking place. (Unsplash/Shubham Sharan)
The latest Census data releases have shed light on the numbers of students living in Halton as well disability and unpaid carer rates among the borough's general population.
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures, Halton had the smallest student population in Cheshire and Merseyside.
There were an estimated 2,400 residents aged 18 to 30 years and in full time education living in the borough in 2021.
Warrington had 4,005 students aged 18-30, while there were 10,320 living in Cheshire West and Chester, and 6,510 in Cheshire East.
Knowsley had slightly more students than Halton, on 3,225, as did Sefton on 5,890, St Helens with 3,290, and Wirral on 6,565.
Liverpool's student population was bigger than the rest of Cheshire and Merseyside combined, with 47,545 adults in full-time education.
The figures were published as the ONS sought to better measure "highly mobile" student age groups.
Halton's student population dwarfed the number of adults in education living on The Isles of Scilly, which had 25 adults aged 18 to 30 in full time education, the lowest in England and Wales, and was nearly four times as many in the most student-sparse area Eden in Cumbria, which had 630.
In a separate set of data released by the ONS, Halton was shown to have one of the highest numbers of residents with disabilities in the country.
According to the figures, about 22.6% of the borough's population had a disability as defined under the Equality Act, and conversely 77.4% without.
The areas with higher levels of disability in England were Hartlepool with 22.9%, Blackpool on 24.7%, Knowsley 23.6%, Liverpool at 23.8%, and Sunderland with 23.1%.
Wales had several areas with higher disability rates also, in Neath Port Talbot, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent, Torfaen and Merthyr Tydfil.
In Halton - spanning the towns of Runcorn and Widnes, Cheshire - 11% of the population had a disability that limited their day-to-day lifestyle "a lot", and 11.5% whose lives were limited "a little".
Disability rates were lower in neighbouring areas Warrington (17.8%), Cheshire West and Chester (18%), and Cheshire East (16.2%).
Halton had the fifth highest number of unpaid carers in England, with 11.3% of the population aged five years or over who provided any amount of unpaid care, behind St Helens, Ashfield, Mansfield and Knowsley.
While 88.7% of Halton's residents aged five or over said they provided no unpaid care, 4.6% provided 19 hours or less, 2.7% provided between 20 and 49 hours, and 4% provided 50 or more hours.
A higher proportion of Halton's population, 1.9%, than other areas reported having "very bad health", and the 45.2% of residents who reported being in "very good health" was a smaller number than neighbouring areas Warrington (50%), Cheshire West (49.6%), and Cheshire East (51.3%), but more than Liverpool (44.6%), and also more than Manchester (43.2%).
The figures were all released as part of a series of ongoing data publications by the ONS using data harvested by the 2021 Census.
