Editing Suffolk (section)

== Demography ==
{{see also|List of places in Suffolk}}
{{update section|date=January 2025|reason=[https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/reports/localarea?compare=E10000029,E12000006,E92000001 2021 census data is now available at  nomis]}}
[[File:Ickworth House.jpg|thumb|right|[[Ickworth House]] close to [[Bury St Edmunds]]]]
According to estimates by the [[Office for National Statistics]], the population of Suffolk in 2014 was 738,512, split almost evenly between males and females. Roughly 22% of the population was aged 65 or older, and 90.84% were [[White British]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Area Profile Suffolk Observatory |url=http://www.suffolkobservatory.info/IAS/profiles/profile?profileId=34&geoTypeId=14&geoIds=42#iasProfileSection7 |archive-date=17 March 2016 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20160317040919/http://www.suffolkobservatory.info/IAS/profiles/profile?profileId=34&geoTypeId=14&geoIds=42%23iasProfileSection7 |url-status=dead |website=suffolkobservatory.info |publisher=GeoWise |access-date=21 October 2015}}</ref>

Historically, the county's population has mostly been employed as [[Agriculture|agricultural workers]]. An 1835 survey showed Suffolk to have 4,526 occupiers of land employing labourers, 1,121 occupiers not employing labourers, 33,040 labourers employed in agriculture, 676 employed in manufacture, 18,167 employed in retail trade or handicraft, 2,228 'capitalists, bankers etc.', 5,336 labourers (non-agricultural), 4,940 other males aged over 20, 2,032 male servants and 11,483 female servants.<ref>'The British Almanac' – 1835</ref>

A traditional nickname for people from Suffolk is "Suffolk Fair-Maids", referring to the supposed beauty of its female inhabitants in the [[Middle Ages]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nall |first=John Greaves |title=Nall's Glossary of East Anglian Dialect |date=2006 |publisher=Larks Press |isbn=9781904006343 }}</ref> Another is "Silly Suffolk", often assumed to be derived from the [[Old English]] word ''sælig'' in the meaning "blessed", referring to the long history of Christianity in the county.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Torlesse |first=Charles Martin |title=Some Account of Stoke by Nayland, Suffolk |date=1877 |publisher=Harrison }}</ref> However, use of the term "Silly Suffolk" can actually be dated to no earlier than 1819, and its alleged medieval origins have been shown to be mythical.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Briggs |first1=Keith |title=Silly Suffolk |journal=Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History |date=2022 |volume=45 |issue=2 |page=295}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
! Rank!!Town!!Population<br>(2011)!!Borough/District council
|-
| 1 || [[Ipswich]] || 133,384|| [[Ipswich Borough Council]]
|-
| 2 || [[Lowestoft]] || 71,000|| [[East Suffolk District|East Suffolk Council]]
|-
| 3 || [[Bury St Edmunds]] || 42,000|| [[West Suffolk District|West Suffolk Council]]
|-
| 4 || [[Haverhill, Suffolk|Haverhill]] || 27,041|| [[West Suffolk District|West Suffolk Council]]
|-
| 5 || [[Felixstowe]] || 23,689|| [[East Suffolk District|East Suffolk Council]]
|-
| 6 || [[Newmarket, Suffolk|Newmarket]] || 20,384|| [[West Suffolk District|West Suffolk Council]]
|}