Dorset

Dorset (pronounced Dorsit, sometimes in the past called Dorsetshire) is a county in the southwest of England, on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester, situated in the south of the county at {{coor dms|50|43|00|N|02|26|00|W|}}. Between its extreme points Dorset measures 50 miles (80 km) from east to west and 40 miles (64 km) north to south, and has an area of 1,024 square miles (2,653 km²). Dorset borders Devon to the west, Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north-east and Hampshire to the east. The county is largely rural with a low population and population density. Dorset's motto is Who's Afear'd.

Demographics

Dorset has a population of 390,980, plus 163,444 in Bournemouth and 138,288 in Poole (total 692,712). The following statistics exclude Poole and Bournemouth, which are no longer part of the administrative county.

Related Topics:
Population - Bournemouth - Poole

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91.3% of Dorset's population were born in England and 95.2% were born within the United Kingdom. 98.8% are indigenous, an extreme example of the disproportionately small ethnic minority population in rural areas.

Related Topics:
England - United Kingdom - Ethnic minority

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78% of the population are Christian, 13.7% are not religious.

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Dorset has the second highest proportion of elderly people of any county in Britain, second only to East Sussex, with 25.9% of the population over 65 and 13.9% of the 16–74 age range retired. The county has the lowest birth rate of the 34 English counties, at 9.6 births per 1000. It has the third highest mortality rate, behind East Sussex and Devon. In 1996 deaths exceeded births by 1,056, giving a natural population decline of 2.7 per 1000, however, in 1997 there were 7,200 migrants moving to Dorset and the Poole-Bournemouth conurbation, giving Dorset the second highest net population-growth, behind Cambridgeshire, at 17.3%{{ref|census}}{{ref|facts}}.

Related Topics:
East Sussex - Birth rate - Devon - 1996 - 1997 - Cambridgeshire

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Dorset is one of only four non-urban counties in England to not have a single motorway, along with Cornwall, Norfolk and Suffolk.

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The county reputedly has the highest proportion of 'Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty' (44% of the whole county), 'World Heritage Sites', and 'Sites of Special Scientific interest' in England.

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