Portsmouth population, 2001–2025
Portsmouth has an estimated population of 211,475 (mid-2025), up 12.5% since 2001. Official ONS mid-year estimates for the Portsmouth 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 | 211,475 | -0.7% |
| 2024 | 212,936 | -0.5% |
| 2023 | 213,939 | +2.1% |
| 2022 | 209,614 | +1.2% |
| 2021 | 207,119 | -1.0% |
| 2020 | 209,142 | -0.6% |
| 2019 | 210,412 | -0.4% |
| 2018 | 211,215 | +0.1% |
| 2017 | 210,965 | +0.5% |
| 2016 | 209,951 | +1.0% |
| 2015 | 207,873 | +0.8% |
| 2014 | 206,200 | +0.1% |
| 2013 | 205,905 | +0.1% |
| 2012 | 205,729 | +0.1% |
| 2011 | 205,433 | +1.3% |
| 2010 | 202,700 | +1.9% |
| 2009 | 198,983 | +1.5% |
| 2008 | 196,036 | +0.6% |
| 2007 | 194,907 | -0.5% |
| 2006 | 195,964 | -0.2% |
| 2005 | 196,318 | +1.5% |
| 2004 | 193,483 | +1.7% |
| 2003 | 190,283 | +1.0% |
| 2002 | 188,476 | +0.2% |
| 2001 | 188,043 | — |
Food businesses
Portsmouth has 212 takeaways, 415 restaurants and cafés and 154 pubs and bars on the FSA's statutory register (as of July 2026) — 0.51 takeaways per restaurant against an English average of 0.49, and 10.0 takeaways per 10,000 residents. How that compares across England.
High street businesses
Portsmouth has 160 hairdressers and beauty salons, 85 pubs and bars, 115 licensed restaurants, 175 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.