AFTER a 17 month wait the official population figures for Cornwall have finally been released - revealing the county as one of the fastest growing in the country.

The report, issued this week following the census in April last year, also reveals that the population of the Kerrier district, which covers the Camborne and Redruth area and down to Helston and the Lizard has grown by 20 per cent since 1981.

The growth mirrors that of north Cornwall which indicates a shift in Cornwall's settlement pattern as Kerrier was previously the most populated district as the county's industrial heartland.

Last year's head count of residents also shows Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly passing the half a million barrier for the first time ever.

Cornwall turns out to be one of the UK's boom areas, with the fourth largest rate of population growth of any shire county.

Over the last 20 years Cornwall has grown by 74,800 or 17.5%, which is more than four times the 4.3% growth rate of the United Kingdom as a whole.

The number of residents on the Cornish mainland, the area administered by Cornwall County Council, is now 499,100, but if the Isles of Scilly are included the total is now 501,300 - the first time it has passed half a million since the census began in 1801.

Cornwall's age structure is also changing significantly. Since 1991 there have been falls in the number of pre-school children and young working adults in their 20s, but big increases in the older working age groups, pre-retirement age groups and older pensioners. There are now fewer young children aged 0-4 than there were in either 1981 or 1991.

Cornwall's schools, which have embarked on the largest ever capital building programme as one of the Government's testbeds for Private Finance Initiatives, have had their predictions confirmed by this latest Census information. The number of school age children has increased by 4,500 since 1991.

But higher education initiatives like the CUC University project and the Peninsula Medical School base at Treliske will be hoping to redress an outflow of young people in their twenties, down by nearly 9,000 and back to its 1981 level.

The elderly population shows only a modest increase. There are now 100,700 people in Cornwall aged 65 or over, compared to 94,800 in 1991. However, the number of older pensioners, over 85 - those who make greatest demands on community care services services - has risen steeply, up from 9,100 in 1991 to 13,100 in 2001.

County Council Executive Member for Corporate Support, Bert Biscoe says, "We have seen this data for the first time today, but the County Council will do a more detailed study of the figures and trends, and produce a first report on what this all means in a few days time."

"It is a little disappointing that the data is already 17 months old when it is released, but it is valuable nonetheless is helping us to plan for future demands on local services."