Redbridge is getting bigger, younger and more diverse, according to new figures from the 2011 census.

The borough’s population has rocketed by 17 per cent and more than 40,000 people in 10 years, according to the figures released last week.

It is growing faster than the London average and has the ninth-highest population growth in the capital.

The average age is now just 35.6, compared to 37 in 2001, and there are more young people under 15.

A spokesman for NHS North East London and the City said the population growth were not a surprise.

He added: “We see increases in the numbers of patients registering with GPs and using our hospitals and other services.

‘Those increased numbers of patients, an ageing population and the higher cost of some treatments, mean that our health services are under increasing pressure.

“That’s why, together with our partners, we plan and commission services to cope with those pressures, based on the actual amount of activity rather than on census information.’

The census also revealed Redbridge to be one of the most diverse boroughs in the UK.

More than 30 per cent of the residents were born in other countries

– mostly southern Asia.

The figures mirror the London-wide rise in foreign nationals.

One in three residents in the capital were not born in the UK, up from one in four in 2001.

In Redbridge, most non-EU residents come from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

The number of people born in Asia living in Redbridge has also increased by eight per cent in the last decade.

The census showed Redbridge as one of the most religiously-diverse areas in the country, with high proportions of Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Jewish residents.

The borough has the sixth-lowest proportion of white British residents in the UK, who make up 34.5 per cent of the population.

The second-largest group is of Indian ethnicity, followed by Pakistani, other Asian, Bangladeshi, and black of African, Carribean or other descent.

Council leader Cllr Keith Prince declined to comment.