If you are thinking of moving to Sheerness or just want to know a what the area is like, the statistics on this page should give you a good introduction. They cover a range of socio-economic factors so you can compare Sheerness to figures for Kent and nationally. These statistics can tell you if Sheerness is an economically deprived area and how hard it might be to get a job.
Sheerness Benefits & Unemployment Statistics
After the introduction of Universal Credit, the government no longer publishes unemployment figures as a percentage of the working population and has no further plans to do so. They do however publish the number of Universal Credit claimants in every local district council. We have taken the LDC that includes Sheerness and compared it to the nearest councils. Please be aware that Universal Credit is a in and out of work benefit. Therefore these figures are an indicator of BOTH unemployment and underemployment. Sheerness is in the local authority with the highest number of Universal Credit claimants in the area.
These figures below on the claiming of legacy benefits in Sheerness are dated . They are the last published statistics of unemployment rates as a percentage of the population. Althpugh outdated, these statistics can often be a good indicator of the prosperity of the town and how hard it could be to get employment in the area.
| Benefit | Swale | Kent | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jobseekers Allowance (only) | 3.3% | 2.7% | 3.3% |
| Incapacity Benefits (IB or ESA) | 2.6% | 2.1% | 2.4% |
| Any Benefit (includes in work benefits) | 15.9% | 12.6% | 13.5% |
Sheerness Property Ownership & Rental Statistics
Sheerness has a higher rate of home ownership, either outright or via a mortgage than the national average, which suggests that Sheerness is a relatively affluent area.
| Tenure | Swale | Kent | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owned | 31.4% | 33.1% | 30.6% |
| Mortgage | 36.9% | 34.2% | 32.8% |
| Shared | 1% | 1% | 0.8% |
| Social Rented (Council) | 2.2% | 5.8% | 9.4% |
| Social Rented (Housing Assoc) | 12.1% | 8.1% | 8.3% |
| Private Rented | 13.9% | 15.1% | 15.4% |
| Other | 1.3% | 1.5% | 1.4% |
| Rent Free | 1.2% | 1.3% | 1.3% |
Sheerness Immigration Statistics
These figures for Country of Birth for the residents of Sheerness are from the UK Census of 2011. Since Sheerness has a higher level of residents born in the UK than the national average and a lower rate of residents either born in other EU countries or outside the EU, it does not have a significant immigrant population.
| Country | Swale | Kent | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 94.3% | 90.9% | 86.2% |
| Rebublic of Ireland | 0.5% | 0.6% | 0.7% |
| Other EU Countries | 2.4% | 3.2% | 3.7% |
| Outside the EU | 2.8% | 5.4% | 9.4% |
Sheerness Education Statistics
These statistics are for the highest level education obtained by the residents of Sheerness and are from the UK Census of 2011. Sheerness has a high level of residents with either no qualifications or qualifications equal to 1 or more GCSE at grade D or below, than the national average.
| Qualification | Swale | Kent | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| No Qualifications | 27.4% | 22.5% | 22.5% |
| Level 1 | 16.3% | 14.7% | 13.3% |
| Level 2 | 17% | 16.9% | 15.2% |
| Apprenticeship | 4.4% | 3.8% | 3.6% |
| Level 3 | 11.2% | 12.3% | 12.4% |
| Level 4 | 18.9% | 24.7% | 27.4% |
| Other | 4.8% | 5.1% | 5.7% |
Sheerness Social Grade & Occcupation Statistics
Social grade is a classification based on occupation and it enables a household and all its members to be classified according to the job of the main income earner. Sheerness has 20% less Higher and Intermediate managerial, administrative or professional households than the national average.
| Grade | Swale | Kent | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| AB | 17.08% | 22.42% | 22.96% |
| C1 | 30.10% | 31.89% | 30.92% |
| C2 | 25.42% | 22.46% | 20.64% |
| DE | 27.40% | 23.22% | 25.49% |
Sheerness Age Distribution Statistics
The population of Sheerness as a whole, is older than the national average. However, the population of Sheerness is younger than the Kent average.
| Age | Swale | Kent | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age 0 to 4 | 6.4% | 6.1% | 6.3% |
| Age 5 to 9 | 5.8% | 5.7% | 5.6% |
| Age 10 to14 | 6.5% | 6.2% | 5.8% |
| Age 15 to 17 | 4% | 4% | 3.7% |
| Age 18 to 24 | 8.1% | 8.6% | 9.4% |
| Age 25 to 29 | 6% | 5.7% | 6.9% |
| Age 30 to 44 | 19.4% | 19.3% | 20.6% |
| Age 45 to 59 | 20.2% | 19.8% | 19.4% |
| Age 60 to 64 | 6.8% | 6.6% | 6% |
| Age 65 to 74 | 9.3% | 9.4% | 8.6% |
| Age 75 to 84 | 5.4% | 6% | 5.5% |
| Age 85 and over | 2% | 2.5% | 2.3% |
| Mean Age | 39.6 | 40.3 | 39.3 |
| Median Age | 40 | 41 | 39 |
Sheerness General Health Statistics
The respondents of the 2011 Census were asked to rate their health. These are the results for Sheerness. The percentage of residents in Sheerness rating their health as 'very good' is less than the national average. Also the percentage of residents in Sheerness rating their health as 'very bad' is more than the national average, suggesting that the health of the residents of Sheerness is generally worse than in the average person in England.
| Health | Swale | Kent | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Very Good | 44.32% | 46.68% | 47.17% |
| Good | 35.87% | 34.87% | 34.22% |
| Fair | 14.07% | 13.32% | 13.12% |
| Bad | 4.42% | 4.00% | 4.25% |
| Very Bad | 1.32% | 1.14% | 1.25% |
Sources: Office for National Statistics & Department for Work & Pensions.
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