title: Stanhope, Kent
text: # Stanhope, Kent
  
  Stanhope is a civil parish and suburb of Ashford in the Borough of Ashford in Kent, England. It was built in the 1960s on the southern edge of the town.
  
  ## Demography
  
  At the 2001 UK census, the Stanhope electoral ward had a population of 3,276. The ethnicity was 94.2% white, 1.4% mixed race, 1.6% Asian, 1% black and 1.8% other. The place of birth of residents was 93.5% United Kingdom, 0.7% Republic of Ireland, 0.9% other Western European countries, and 4.9% elsewhere. Religion was recorded as 65.9% Christian, 0% Buddhist, 0% Hindu, 0% Sikh, 0% Jewish, and 3.1% Muslim. 21.2% were recorded as having no religion, 0.3% had an alternative religion and 9.5% did not state their religion.
  
  The economic activity of residents aged 16–74 was 38.3% in full-time employment, 12% in part-time employment, 4.3% self-employed, 6.8% unemployed, 2.6% students with jobs, 4% students without jobs, 6.9% retired, 13.1% looking after home or family, 8.1% permanently sick or disabled and 3.9% economically inactive for other reasons. The industry of employment of residents was 21.2% retail, 18% manufacturing, 9.6% construction, 8.4% real estate, 11.6% health and social work, 5.6% education, 7.9% transport and communications, 2.6% public administration, 4.9% hotels and restaurants, 2.3% finance, 2.1% agriculture and 5.8% other. Compared with national figures, the ward had a relatively high proportion of workers in agriculture, retail, manufacturing and construction. There were a relatively low proportion in finance, real estate, education and public administration. Of the ward's residents aged 16–74, 7% had a higher education qualification or the equivalent, compared with 19.9% nationwide.
  
  ## History
  
  The parish was formed in 1987 from the parish of Kingsnorth and part of the unparished area of Ashford.
  
  