a selection of trains run to London's Cannon Street station, primarily for business commuting. There is a Stagecoach bus service running to neighbouring Birchington and Margate, and a service running between Broadstairs and Canterbury via Westgate-on-Sea. The A28 road runs between Hastings and Margate via Ashford, Canterbury, Birchington and Westgate-on-Sea. southwest of Westgate-on-Sea, the A28 crosses the A299 road, which leads along North Kent towards London, becoming the M2 motorway at Faversham. Demographics At the 2001 UK census, the Westgate-on-Sea electoral ward had 6,594 residents and 2,845 households. Of those households, 38.0% were married couples, 8.4% were cohabiting couples and 9.4% were lone parents. 39.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 21.9% had someone living alone at pensionable age. 23.6% of households included children aged under 16, or a person aged 16 to 18 who was in full-time education. There was a high percentage of households made up of individuals, compared with the percentage for the whole of England. The average household size was 2.7. The town has a low proportion of non-white people compared to national figures; the ethnicity recorded in the 2001 census was 97.4% white, 1.0% mixed race, 0.4% Chinese, 0.6% other Asian, 0.3% black and 0.3% other. The number of foreign-born residents is relatively low, with the place of birth of residents in 2001 being 94.5% United Kingdom, 1.0% Republic of Ireland, 0.5% Germany, 0.6% other Western Europe countries, 0.3% Eastern Europe, 0.8% Far East, 0.6% North America, 0.5% Africa, 0.4% South Asia, 0.2% Middle East and 0.2% Oceania. Religion was recorded as 75.8% Christian, 0.5% Muslim, 0.2% Hindu, 0.1% Buddhist and 0.3% Jewish. 14.4% were recorded as having no religion, 0.3% had an alternative religion and 8.3% did not state their religion. The age distribution was 5% aged 0–4 years, 13% aged 5–15 years, 5% aged 16–19 years, 28% aged 20–44 years, 22% aged 45–64 years and 27% aged 65 years and over. There was a high percentage of residents over 65, compared with the national average of 16%, mainly due to seaside towns being popular retirement destinations. For every 100 females, there were 85.7 males. Economy As a seaside resort and border rural, the economy is mainly based around tourism; there are several hotels and guest houses near the seafront, to accommodate the influx of visitors during the summer. Many visitors often enjoy the coast, fields and shops. The High Street