Population growth
Population growth
Jersey's population has risen and fallen again many times over the centuries, culminating in the steady growth during the 20th and 21st centuries, interrupted only by the two World Wars. Estimates of population in past centuries are fairly rudimentary, consisting of counting the numbers of properties shown on maps and multiplying by a factor of the estimated number of people per property
The early censuses were not particularly reliable, those taken in 1781 and 1815 amounting only to a muster of those men liable for Militia service. The first reliable census was taken in 1821, and this appears to have just been a count of inhabited properties and the people living in them, with no names recorded.
- A summary of influences on Jersey's population levels
- Jersey's population - a history by Mark Boleat
1331 onwards
17th and 18th centuries
- 1613 Trinity Census
- 1617 St Saviour militia_muster
- St Lawrence Manifeste of 1646
- 1788 Census - St Lawrence names
- Population of Jersey in the 17th and 18th centuries, a 1991 article from the Annual Bulletin of La Société Jersiaise
- Immigration control in the 18th century
19th century censuses
1806
| PARISH | FAMILIES | MEN | WOMEN | BOYS | GIRLS | TOTAL |
| St Helier | 1443 | 1471 | 2031 | 1323 | 1635 | 6460 |
| St Lawrence | 201 | 406 | 405 | 377 | 473 | 1661 |
| St Peter | 289 | 385 | 451 | 357 | 487 | 1680 |
| St Brelade | 277 | 503 | 671 | 311 | 289 | 1774 |
| St Ouen | 334 | 488 | 480 | 376 | 588 | 1932 |
| St Mary | 161 | 246 | 242 | 191 | 287 | 965 |
| St John | 245 | 357 | 381 | 318 | 453 | 1509 |
| Trinity | 348 | 473 | 539 | 395 | 459 | 1866 |
| St Martin | 327 | 308 | 378 | 300 | 467 | 1553 |
| Grouville | 241 | 301 | 352 | 310 | 362 | 1325 |
| St Clement | 134 | 185 | 227 | 138 | 165 | 715 |
| St Saviour | 268 | 355 | 396 | 311 | 353 | 1415 |
| Totals | 4363 | 5577 | 6553 | 4707 | 6018 | 22855 |
What stands out dramatically in this census is that St Clement was by far the least populous of all the island's parishes. Contrast that with the 20th century, as housing has spread out along the island's south-east coast to consume much of the low-lying parish of St Clement, making it the fourth parish in order of population after St Helier, St Saviour and St Brelade. In 1806 St Saviour and St Brelade, too, had fewer inhabitants than St Ouen and Trinity.
1821
| PARISH | HOUSES | FAMILIES | FARMING | TRADE etc | OTHER | MALES | FEMALES | TOTAL |
| St Helier | 1216 | 2071 | 158 | 1468 | 445 | 4546 | 5572 | 10118 |
| St Saviour | 221 | 321 | 270 | 21 | 30 | 792 | 895 | 1687 |
| St Clement | 116 | 195 | 75 | 108 | 12 | 404 | 534 | 938 |
| Grouville | 278 | 410 | 206 | 179 | 25 | 902 | 1015 | 1917 |
| St Martin | 273 | 344 | 231 | 89 | 24 | 781 | 910 | 1691 |
| Trinity | 315 | 351 | 210 | 127 | 14 | 942 | 1106 | 2048 |
| St John | 238 | 3149 | 125 | 165 | 29 | 771 | 886 | 1657 |
| St Lawrence | 276 | 409 | 233 | 123 | 53 | 860 | 1012 | 1872 |
| St Mary | 166 | 205 | 145 | 42 | 18 | 475 | 545 | 1020 |
| St Peter | 296 | 389 | 240 | 97 | 52 | 836 | 1018 | 1854 |
| St Brelade | 305 | 391 | 122 | 229 | 40 | 781 | 936 | 1717 |
| St Ouen | 323 | 408 | 295 | 108 | 5 | 966 | 1115 | 2081 |
| Totals | 4053 | 5813 | 2310 | 2756 | 747 | 13056 | 15544 | 28600 |
19th Century population explosion
- Surges in population
- The island changes
- French workers and the Jersey population
- A French view of emigration to Jersey
20th Century
Population totals from 1821 to 2021
| YEAR | MALES | FEMALES | TOTAL |
| 1821 | 13056 | 15544 | 28600 |
| 1831 | 17006 | 19576 | 36582 |
| 1841 | 21602 | 25942 | 47544 |
| 1851 | 26238 | 30782 | 57020 |
| 1861 | 24843 | 30770 | 55613 |
| 1871 | 24875 | 31752 | 56627 |
| 1881 | 23485 | 28960 | 52445 |
| 1891 | 24965 | 29553 | 54518 |
| 1901 | 23940 | 28636 | 52576 |
| 1911 | 24014 | 27884 | 51898 |
| 1921 | 22438 | 27263 | 49701 |
| 1931 | 23424 | 27038 | 50462 |
| 1939 | 23956 | 27124 | 51080 |
| 1951 | 27291 | 30019 | 57310 |
| 1961 | 28664 | 30825 | 59489 |
| 1971 | 33770 | 35559 | 69329 |
| 1976 | 34388 | 36630 | 71018 |
| 1981 | 36496 | 39554 | 76050 |
| 1986 | 38751 | 41461 | 80212 |
| 1989 | 40086 | 42723 | 82809 |
| 1991 | 40862 | 43220 | 84082 |
| 1996 | 41394 | 43756 | 85150 |
| 2001 | 42484 | 44702 | 87186 |
| 2011 | 48296 | 49561 | 97857 |
| 2021 | 51003 | 52264 | 103267 |
- States 1906 report on immigration, a full translation of the report
- A review of the 1906 report on immigration, a 2010 Annual Bulletin of La Société Jersiaise article on the 1906 report
21st century
Comparison of last five censuses, including the extra one ordered in 1996
| Grouville | St Brelade | St Clement | St Helier | St John | St Lawrence | St Martin | St Mary | St Ouen | St Peter | St Saviour | Trinity | |
| 1991 | 4297 | 9331 | 7393 | 28123 | 2440 | 4561 | 3258 | 1449 | 3612 | 4231 | 12747 | 2640 |
| 1996 | 4658 | 9560 | 7986 | 27523 | 2520 | 4773 | 3423 | 1475 | 3685 | 4228 | 12680 | 2639 |
| 2001 | 4702 | 10134 | 8196 | 28310 | 2618 | 4702 | 3628 | 1591 | 3803 | 4293 | 12491 | 2718 |
| 2011 | 4866 | 10568 | 9221 | 33522 | 2911 | 5418 | 3763 | 1752 | 4094 | 5003 | 13582 | 3156 |
| 2021 | 5401 | 11012 | 9925 | 35822 | 3051 | 5561 | 3948 | 1818 | 4206 | 5264 | 13904 | 3355 |
