The 10 Birmingham neighbourhoods with highest proportion of UK armed forces veterans

There are 1.9 million UK armed forces veterans living in England and Wales, census data released for the first time shows.

They include 1.4 million people who previously served in the regular forces, 361,000 who served in the reserve forces and 79,000 who served in both the regular and reserve forces.

The release of the information comes as remembrance services are held across the UK to commemorate those who fought and died serving our country.

The data shows that there are 160, 262 UK armed forces veterans living in in the West Midlands. There12256 people who previously served in the armed forces living in Birmingham.

Until now, the Government was only able to estimate the number of veterans living in England and Wales, with a previous figure given of around two million and no data held on where these veterans might live.

Charles Byrne, director general of the Royal British Legion, said: “This data will transform our understanding of the veteran population and enable public and voluntary service providers to deliver the best care and support for our Armed Forces community, where it is needed most.

“It will surprise many people to learn that, until today, nobody knew exactly how many veterans there were in England and Wales, or where they lived.”

Across England and Wales, the local authorities with the highest proportion of veterans include Gosport (12.5% of those aged over 16), North Kesteven (10.2%) and Richmondshire (9.5%).

The Office for National Statistics plans to release further analysis of the census data on veterans in the coming months.

Here, we’ve taken a look at the ten neighbourhoods which have the highest proportion of UK armed forces veterans