Wiltshire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Wiltshire, South West England. It was formed on 1 April 2009 following the abolition of Wiltshire County Council and the districts of Kennet, North Wiltshire, Salisbury, and West Wiltshire. These were replaced by a single governing body, Wiltshire Council, which is based at County Hall in Trowbridge. As of 2024, the Wiltshire unitary authority had a population of estimate 523,700. Salisbury is the most populous settlement and the only city within the unitary authority, with Trowbridge and Chippenham being the next largest settlements. The remaining part of the ceremonial county is the Borough of Swindon, which is administered by a separate unitary authority and has a population estimate of 243,875.
Contents
History
Prior to 2009, the county comprised four administrative districts (Kennet, North Wiltshire, Salisbury, and West Wiltshire) alongside the Borough of Swindon, which had become a separate unitary authority in 1997. In April 2009, the four districts were abolished and replaced by Wiltshire Council, creating a single unitary authority for the entire county outside the Borough of Swindon.
Main settlements
Amesbury
Bradford on Avon
Calne
Chippenham
Corsham
Cricklade
Devizes
Larkhill
Ludgershall
Malmesbury
Marlborough
Melksham
Mere
Royal Wootton Bassett
Salisbury
Tidworth
Trowbridge
Warminster
Westbury
Wilton
Demographics
Ethnicity
The population of the ceremonial county of Wiltshire (district) was historically ethnically homogeneous, White British, but is now becoming less homogeneous, with the largest ethnic group, White British, constituting 90.1% of the population in the 2021 census. This proportion has consistently declined in each modern census, down from 96.2% in the 2001 census.
In the 2021 census, the ethnic composition of Wiltshire (district) comprised: 94.3% White, 2.1% Asian, 1.1% Black, 1.7% Mixed, and 0.7% Other.
White (94.3%): English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British (90.1%), Irish (0.5%), Gypsy or Irish Traveller (0.1%), Roma (0.1%), and Other White (3.6%).
Asian (2.1%): Indian (0.6%), Pakistani (0.1%), Bangladeshi (0.2%), Chinese (0.3%), and Other Asian (1.0%).
Black (1.1%): African (0.6%), Caribbean (0.3%), and Other Black (0.2%).
Mixed (1.7%): White and Asian (0.5%), White and Black African (0.2%), White and Black Caribbean (0.5%), and Other Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups (0.5%).
Other (0.7%): Arab (0.1%) and Any other ethnic group (0.6%).
Note: Sub-group totals may not sum exactly to the group total due to rounding.
Note: The 2001 census figures for 'Asian' and 'Other' have been adjusted to reflect the 2011 reclassification of the Chinese ethnic group from 'Other' to 'Asian' to allow comparison across census years.
Religion
In the 2021 census, the religious composition of Wiltshire (district) comprised: 50.2% Christian, 41.3% No religion, 0.7% Muslim, 0.5% Hindu, 0.5% Buddhist, 0.5% Sikh, 0.1% Jewish, 0.6% Other religion, and 6.0% Not stated.