On 15th July, Space Skills Alliance (SSA) released the 2024 second demographic statistics for the UK’s space sector. The statistics were gathered from the 2024 Space Census, which have not seen serious changes since the survey in 2020. The 2024 Space Census questioned 1,025 people from over 258 organisations, accounting for around 2.6% of the UK space workforce.
While the number of ethnic minorities, women, disabled people, and LGBTQ+ individuals working in the space sector has increased, most are still underrepresented. Women, at 35% of the workforce, are under-represented, although the number is better than the Space Census in 2020 (29%).
Trans people account for around 1% of the space sector and reflect similar rates seen in the wider population. LGBTQ+ people are well represented (13% vs 5% of the wider population), and 2/3 claim to be comfortable being open with their sexuality.
Foreign Nationals Make Up 16% of UK Space Workforce, Mostly from Europe
Ethnic minorities are underrepresented, with around half of Blacks and Asians being non-British citizens. Foreign nationals (most of them being European) make up around 16% of the workforce.
Disabled people are also underrepresented (14% vs 18% in the wider workforce). The greatest increase from 2020 of reported health conditions is related to social or behavioural (+19%) and mental health (+10%).
Other statistics
A large portion of the space workforce is non-religious, being 32% less religious than the rest of the country’s population. Christianity is the most popular religion in the space sector, at 22.8% of the workforce. These results haven’t changed much since the survey in 2022.
Individuals with a more advantageous socio-economic background are overrepresented (13% in the space sector vs 8% of 14-year-olds in England). The number of people who have attended private school has decreased by 2% and attendees of a state school has increased by 4% since 2020.
The number of young people in the UK space workforce has stayed relatively the same, with around 37% of workers being under 35. The average age of the British workforce is 41, with 43 for men and 39 for women.
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