Lewisham is an Inner London borough. It is located south of the River Thames and is bordered by the boroughs of Bromley, Greenwich and Southwark. It is the second largest Inner London borough, covering an area of 13.4 square miles. Lewisham has a range of area-based Government initiatives, such as Health Action Zone, Education Action Zone, Sure Start and Sure Start Plus, New Deal for Communities and Single Regeneration Bids. It is a Regeneration area and has a Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy covering four of its most deprived wards.

3.1 POPULATION AGE STRUCTURE

The mid 2001 resident population for Lewisham based on the Census 2001 was 248,922 persons. Of this, 48% are male and 52% are female. There was a 3.6 % increase in population compared to the 1991 Census. The population of Lewisham is younger than that of England and Wales (see Figure 3.1). About 11% of the population are aged 65 or over, compared to 16% nationally. Lewisham’s residents have an average age of 34.7 years.

Overall, Lewisham has more females than males, which is in keeping with the rest of the country. However, there are more males than females in Lewisham in the 0 to 9 age group, and in the 15-to19 age group.

Figure 3.1: Age breakdown of Lewisham compared to London and England (2001)

Source: Census ,2001

Figure 3.2: Lewisham Population Pyramid (2001)

Source: Census, 2001

The pyramid above shows the age distribution in the Lewisham population, compared to the age distribution in the UK population as at Census Day 2001. The pyramid shows that:

• Lewisham has a slightly greater proportion of under fives (7%), compared to England (6%).
• Lewisham has a larger proportion of its population in the under 10 age group, compared to the UK.
• The teenage population (10-19 years old) is slightly less than the rest of the UK population.
• There is a much greater proportion of the population aged between 20 to 44 years, compared to the UK.
• The UK has an older population (16% aged 65 and over), compared to Lewisham (11%).

3.2 POPULATION PROJECTION

Urban regeneration in Lewisham will be ongoing over the next 10 years. By 2011, the population of Lewisham is projected to increase by 6.4%. Much of this increase will be fuelled by the Thames Gateway development, a large regeneration project that will involve the construction of many new homes, supporting infrastructure and new transport links. (The Thames Gateway consists of around 90 square kilometres of land in the London boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich, Bexley, Tower Hamlets, Newham, Hackney, Havering, Waltham Forest and Barking and Dagenham.) By 2001, the number of people aged 65 and over is projected to fall by 2%, but the number of people aged 85 and over is set to remain constant at 1% of the total population until 2021.

3.3 FERTILITY

In 2002, there were 3,696 live births in Lewisham, compared to 3,718 in 2001. The general fertility rate (numbers of live births per 1,000 women aged 11 to 49 years of age) in Lewisham in 2001 was 57.1. In England, it was 54.9 and in London it was 58.5.

Table 3.1: Number of live births in Lewisham (1990- 2002)

The 2001 Total Period Fertility Rate (please see Glossary) for women aged 11 and above is: England 1.64, London 1.63 and Lewisham 1.60. This gives an indication of the average number of children per woman of childbearing age.

Table 3.2: Age specific fertility rates (2001)

The table above shows that fertility is at its peak in the 25 to 34 year age group and declines thereafter. However, in Lewisham there are slightly lower fertility rates in the 20-34 age groups and slightly higher rates in the over 35 age groups, than is the case nationally (see Figure 3.3).

Figure 3.3: Age specific fertility rates, number of births per 1,000 women (2001)

Source: Compendium of Clinical and Health Indicators 2002 / Clinical and Health Outcomes Knowledge Base (nww.nchod.nhs.uk)

3.4 ETHNIC DIVERSITY, RELIGION AND LANGUAGES

Recording ethnic diversity is important, as it is known that some major diseases, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes and blood diseases like sickle cell anaemia and thalassaemia are more prevalent in some Ethnic Minority Groups.

Lewisham, like much of Inner London, has a diverse population:

• Two thirds of the population are White.
• Nearly a quarter is Black, of Caribbean or African origin.
• There is a small Asian population (4%) spread across the borough, the majority of whom are Indian; and a Chinese community mainly concentrated in the New Cross area.
• There are also other communities such as Vietnamese and Turkish in the borough.

The ethnic population figures for 2001 show that Lewisham is predominantly White (comprising 67% of the total population), while the proportion of Black and Ethnic Minority Groups (BEM) is 33%. The proportion of BEM groups increased from 28.7% in 1991 to 33% in 2001. Lewisham is more ethnically diverse than the national average. Nationally, the White and BEM population breakdown, based on the 2001 Census, is 90% and 10% respectively.

The Black population is the largest Ethnic Minority Group in Lewisham, comprising an estimated 23% of the total population. Asian, Chinese, and other groups are estimated to represent 4% and 1% of the total population respectively.

Figure 3.4: Ethnic distribution in Lewisham (2001)

Source: Census, 2001

• Among the Asian ethnic group, the Indian sub-group is the largest. The Pakistani and Bangladeshi groups have a younger age structure than the Indian group.

• The Mixed ethnic group has the youngest age structure. About half of this population (49%), or almost one in two persons, is in the 0 to 15 age band and 45% is in the 16 to 49 age band. There are very few people (6%) of the mixed ethnic group aged 50 and above.

• Among all of the ethnic groups, the White ethnic group has the smallest number of people in the 0-to15-age band (just 17%) and the highest number aged 50 and above (29%), thus giving an older age structure.

• The ethnic minority population as a whole is generally younger than the White population, with a smaller proportion of people in the 50 to 64 and 65 and over age groups (see Figure 3.5).

• Black and Ethnic Minority Groups (BEM) have between 23% and 28% of their population aged under 15, while the BEM Other populations range from 13% in the Black Other group to 16% of the Chinese Other group.

Figure 3.5: Age distribution by Ethnic Group (2001)

 
Source: Census, 2001

Religion

All the major religions are represented within Lewisham. The majority of people describe themselves as Christians (61.2%), followed by Muslims (4.6%). Around 14.8% of people state that they have 'no religion'.

Refugee Population

Most recent data¹ (2002-2003), suggests that Lewisham provides accommodation to about 1,000 asylum seekers. There has been a decrease in single asylum seekers and an increase in families seeking asylum. Children under 18 account for more than half of the asylum seekers. Unaccompanied children account for about 10% of the asylum seekers.

The top ten countries or origin for asylum seekers in Lewisham in October 2003 were: Sri Lanka, China, Afghanistan, Turkey, Somalia, Iran, Sierra Leone, Vietnam, Congo and Zimbabwe.

Languages

Over 130 languages are spoken in Lewisham. The most common requests for interpretation are for Vietnamese, followed by Turkish, Spanish and Somalian. Data from the South East London Shared Services Partnership (SELSSP) interpreting services in 2002-2003 reveal that Spanish and Kurdish are the two most requested languages.

Figure 3.6: Languages interpreted in Lewisham (2002-2003)

Source: SELSSP Interpreting Services (April 2002-March 2003)

The information given above (see Figure 3.6) relates to interpreting sessions. One family or individual may have several sessions depending on their specific needs. There is a high demand for Spanish across the boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham. This data reflects the service provided, based on the number of available interpreters and the demand met.

Figure 3.7: Telephone interpretation in Lewisham (2002-2003)

Source: SELSSP Interpreting Services (2003)

References:

1. Briefing 5: Statistical Information on Refugee populations with focus on distribution of asylum seekers in Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham by country of origin, Refugee Health Team, LSL (January 2004)

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