Kensington and Chelsea population, 2001–2025
Kensington and Chelsea has an estimated population of 145,734 (mid-2025), down 10.2% since 2001. Official ONS mid-year estimates for the Kensington and Chelsea local authority area. The newest year is provisional: when ONS published mid-2025 it revised the mid-2024 figure for 348 of the 361 UK authorities, so read the last point on any of these charts as the current best estimate rather than a settled number.
Year by year
| Year | Population | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 145,734 | -1.0% |
| 2024 | 147,255 | -1.2% |
| 2023 | 149,049 | +0.8% |
| 2022 | 147,887 | +2.5% |
| 2021 | 144,266 | -0.4% |
| 2020 | 144,874 | -1.3% |
| 2019 | 146,805 | -1.1% |
| 2018 | 148,471 | -0.8% |
| 2017 | 149,651 | -2.0% |
| 2016 | 152,708 | -2.2% |
| 2015 | 156,149 | -0.0% |
| 2014 | 156,178 | -0.4% |
| 2013 | 156,823 | -0.3% |
| 2012 | 157,240 | -0.6% |
| 2011 | 158,251 | -1.4% |
| 2010 | 160,463 | -0.9% |
| 2009 | 161,893 | -0.4% |
| 2008 | 162,579 | -0.2% |
| 2007 | 162,883 | -1.4% |
| 2006 | 165,245 | -1.9% |
| 2005 | 168,375 | +1.6% |
| 2004 | 165,752 | +0.3% |
| 2003 | 165,268 | +0.9% |
| 2002 | 163,827 | +1.0% |
| 2001 | 162,199 | — |
Food businesses
Kensington and Chelsea has 84 takeaways, 971 restaurants and cafés and 99 pubs and bars on the FSA's statutory register (as of July 2026) — 0.09 takeaways per restaurant against an English average of 0.49, and 5.8 takeaways per 10,000 residents. How that compares across England.
High street businesses
Kensington and Chelsea has 285 hairdressers and beauty salons, 35 pubs and bars, 275 licensed restaurants, 75 takeaways on the ONS business register (2025). Compare across the UK.
Rounded to the nearest 5, which is how ONS protects individual businesses from being identified.