Brighton Overview
Brighton is a seaside town located in the south east of England and is part of the city of Brighton and Hove. The towns of Brighton and Hove formed a unitary authority in 1997, and in 2001 Queen Elizabeth II granted the city status. Brighton is often referred to synonymously with Brighton and Hove, although many people (mainly locals) still consider them to be separate towns. At the 2011 census (includes Hove population), Brighton’s official population was 273,400. It’s population density is 9,050 per square mile.
Brighton is a trendy destination for tourists and is renowned for its cultural, music and arts scene, quirky shopping areas and diverse communities. It has a large LGBT population and has been coined the “unofficial gay capital of the UK”. Brighton attracted as many as 7.5 million day visitors in 2015/16 and 4.9 million overnight visitors. It’s also the most popular UK seaside resort for overseas tourists.
City Size and Population Density
The city covers a total surface area of 82.79 square kilometers. With a population near 280,000 by 2018, the population density comes to nearly 3,480 people living per square kilometer.
Brighton History
Brighton began life as a small Saxon village. The Saxons arrived in Sussex in the 5th century AD, founding the kingdom of Sussex, which included the town of Brighton. It was originally called Beorhthelm’s tun (Beorthelm’s farm/village). Hundreds of years later, it grew into the city of Brighton. Here, farmers lived in a village above a cliff and fisherman resided under the cliff on the foreshore. By the 14th century, it was a bustling market town.
The French burned down the town in 1514 and again in 1545; however, it was quickly rebuilt, transforming into a flourishing town with a growing population. Brighton was devastated by a terrible storm in 1703 and residents left in droves, leaving only the poor behind. It did not recover until the late 18th century.
Brighton Demographics
The 2011 census found that Brighton has an even split of male and female residents.
The ethnic composition of those living there is 89.08% white (80.48% are white British, 1.38% are white Irish, 7.21% are other white), 4.13% Asian (1.10% are Chinese, 1.10% are Indian, 0.50% are Bangladeshi, and 1.43% are other Asian), 3.81% mixed race (1.54% are mixed black/white, 1.23% are mixed white/Asian, 1.05% are another mix), 1.53% black and 0.80% Arab.
Most people in Brighton consider themselves to be Christians (42.90%) or non-religious (42.42%). 2.23% are Muslims, while 1% are Buddhist and 0.98% are Jewish. 1.66% follow another religion while 8.81 did not state a religion. Interestingly, in the 2001 census, Brighton had the highest percentage of residents indicating their religion as ‘Jedi’ among all areas of England and Wales - around 330,000 total individuals responded as such.
