Area Profile for the City of Leicester: Housing and Health
Household Change
| Leicester | Percent | England & Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
All dwellings | 115751 | ||
Vacant dwellings | 4398 | ||
Other dwellings | 205 | ||
Dwellings with resident households 2001 | 111148 | ||
Residents households, 1991 | 104158 | ||
Change in households | 6990 | 6.71% | 8.97% |
Unlike the figure for population, the count of households shows that there has been an increase since 1991. This is part of the general trend brought about by more people living on their own.
The extent to which people are doing this exceeds the effect of the declining population. However, as the figure for Leicester shows, growth of 6.7% is lower than that for England & Wales as a whole at 8.9%.
Household Composition
| Leicester | Percent | England & Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
One person: Pensioner | 15275 | 13.74% | 14.43% |
One person: Other | 20904 | 18.81% | 15.59% |
All pensioners | 7395 | 6.65% | 8.97% |
Married couple: No children | 9766 | 8.79% | 13.00% |
Married couple: With dependent children | 18506 | 16.65% | 17.56% |
Married couple: All children non-dependent | 5545 | 4.99% | 5.99% |
Cohabiting couple: No children | 4697 | 4.23% | 4.72% |
Cohabiting couple: With dependent children | 3833 | 3.45% | 3.24% |
Cohabiting couple: All children non-dependent | 319 | 0.29% | 0.32% |
Lone parent: With dependent children | 8567 | 7.71% | 5.88% |
Lone parent: All children non-dependent | 4837 | 4.35% | 3.64% |
Other: With dependent children | 4505 | 4.05% | 2.23% |
Other: All student | 1814 | 1.63% | 0.39% |
Other: All pensioner | 421 | 0.38% | 0.41% |
Other: Other | 4764 | 4.29% | 3.62% |
As mentioned in the section on population, Leicester's population is younger than the national average. This is emphasised by the fact there is a smaller percentage of pensioner households than for England & Wales. There is also a lower percentage of lone pensioners.
Lone parents are a group with particular needs and they are proportionally a larger percentage of the population in Leicester than in England & Wales as a whole.
Tenure
| Leicester | Percent | England & Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
Owner occupied: Owns outright | 26241 | 23.61% | 29.46% |
Owner occupied: Owns with a mortgage or loan | 37455 | 33.70% | 38.76% |
Owner occupied: Shared ownership | 691 | 0.62% | 0.64% |
Rented from: Council (local authority) | 23457 | 21.10% | 13.24% |
Rented from: Housing association / social landlord | 7641 | 6.87% | 5.95% |
Rented from: Private landlord or letting agency | 12958 | 11.66% | 8.72% |
Rented from: Other | 2705 | 2.43% | 3.22% |
As with major cities in general, Leicester has a low proportion of housing in the owner-occupied categories in comparison with England & Wales as a whole (57% versus 68%). Leicester's figure is very similar to the one for 1991.
Where there has been change since 1991 is in the public sector, where council housing has declined in favour of provision by housing associations or the private sector.
Amenities
| Leicester | Percent | England & Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
Average household size | 2.46 | 2.36 | |
Average number of rooms per household | 5.02 | 5.34 | |
Without central heating | 9170 | 8.25% | 8.47% |
H'holds lacking rooms given number of residents | 11807 | 10.62% | 6.97% |
In the 2001 Census, space within houses was research more thoroughly than in previous years, with the introduction of information on occupancy levels. This replaced the simple measure of overcrowding and works by providing a space allowance based on household composition.
For Leicester as a whole, the results show that there were 11,800 households that had a space deficit of one or more rooms. This accounted for just over 10% of households. This is 3% higher that the equivalent figure for England & Wales.
This deficit is reinforced by the data for average household size and rooms per household, with Leicester having larger households but smaller homes compared with England & Wales as a whole.
Health
| Leicester | Percent | England & Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| People whose health was good | 183469 | 65.54% | 68.55% |
| People whose health was fairly good | 67782 | 24.21% | 22.23% |
| People whose health was not good | 28670 | 10.24% | 9.22% |
| People with limiting long-term illness | 52500 | 18.76% | 18.23% |
| People who provide unpaid care | 26868 | 9.60% | 10.03% |
Leicester had slightly higher proportions of people in the 'fairly good' and 'not good' health categories compared with the figures for England & Wales. There was less difference for people with limiting long-term illness.
| Source: 2001 Census, Key Statistics © Crown Copyright Leicester City Council Area Profile Version 1.1 |


