Nearly a quarter of veterans in Ashfield over 80

The 2021 census was the first to ask people about whether they had previously served in the Armed Forces.

Office for National Statistics figures show there were 4,325 veterans living in Ashfield in March 2021, about 1,030, 23.8 per cent, of whom were over the age of 80.

The census shows 3.8 per cent of people in England and Wales aged 16 and over had served in the Armed Forces, or 1.9 million people.

At the time of the census, 31.8 per cent of veterans were aged 80 or over, compared with just 5.1 per cent of the non-veteran population.

The high proportion of octogenarian veterans is a product of the War Service and National Service that ran in the UK from 1939-60, the ONS said.

National Service was a system of conscription that required healthy males aged 17-21 to serve in the Armed Forces for 18 months-two years.

It was phased out in the late 1950s, meaning the last surviving people to have taken part will now be well into their 80s.

There were about 180 veterans over 90 in Ashfield as of March 2021, while just 8.4 per cent of veterans in the area were younger than 35.

Rich Pereira, ONS head of demography, said: “This data gives a greater understanding of our veteran armed forces community.”

He said the figures would be “crucial” for support and services for veterans.

While most veterans in England and Wales were born in the UK, 94 per cent, about one in six, 17 per cent, said they did not currently hold a passport.

Veterans across the two countries are also overwhelmingly male, as a result of conscription policies and cultural attitudes.

In Ashfield, just 13.4 per cent of all veterans – including those who did not give their gender – were female.

The Royal British Legion said the figures were the result of a campaign by the charity to have a question relating to military service added to the Census for the first time in 2021.

Hannah Pearce, RBL director of campaigns, policy and research, said: “The information will significantly improve our understanding of the Armed Forces community and ensure we can deliver the best support possible to serving personnel, veterans and their families both now and in future years.”

Ms Pearce said the data provided “new insights” into diversity within the veteran community.

She said: “For example, despite the ban on LGBTQ+ personnel serving in the military until 2000, there are no notable differences in sexual orientation data between veterans and the general population.”

Some 91 per cent of veterans identified as straight or heterosexual, with 0.9 per cent as gay or lesbian and 0.5 per cent as bisexual – with little difference from the population at large when accounting for age, sex and location.