Census 2011: 1.5m have second addresses

Second addresses were recorded for the first time in the 2011 Census

Just over 1.57 million people living in England and Wales have a second address in another local authority, the Census 2011 has shown.

Cornwall was the local authority area where the greatest number of people recorded a second address.

Almost 23,000 people had a second address in the region, and used it for 30 days or more each year.

The data was recorded for the first time in the Census 2011, so there are no comparisons with previous years.

As with other census data, recording of second addresses can help local authorities plan the delivery of services.

The overall number of people with second addresses - 1,570,224 - represents 2.8% of the usual resident population in England and Wales.

The majority of those - 77% or 1.2 million - said their second address was for a purpose other than work or holiday. They were mainly the home addresses of students, but also included the second addresses of children of separated parents.

Some 12% (188,837) of people with second addresses recorded that they were for work and 11% (165,095) that they were for holiday reasons.

The Office for National Statistics said the estimates of the number of people with second addresses used for holidays were "not equivalent to an estimate of holiday homes".

"These estimates could include, for example, addresses that are used over the course of the year, by more than one person," it said.

The census also revealed:

• that 47,733 residents of England and Wales had a second address in either Scotland or Northern Ireland

• that 820,814 people (1.5% of the usual resident population) had a second address outside of the UK

London boroughs and areas with an armed forces presence had the highest rate of people with a second address for work.

Gwynedd had the highest rate of people with second addresses used for holidays, with 64 people from outside of Gwynedd having such an address for every 1,000 usual residents.

Men accounted for more than half of all people with a second address in England and Wales. This was most evident for second addresses for work, where there were 2.6 males with a second address to every female with a second address.