Over 1.5 million people live at a second address away from their main home for more than a month every year, according to the latest data from the Office of National Statistics.

The number of people with second addresses makes up 2.8% of the population.

Most of the second addresses are for students or workers – but just over 165,000 (11%) of people revealed they have a regular holiday home where they stay for more than 30 days every year.

The figures do not disclose the number of holiday homes in Britain – but the statisticians can say the place where the most people gave a holiday address was Cornwall – with 22,997 people.

However, the place with the highest proportion of people staying at a holiday address was Gwynedd, North Wales, with 64 people for every 1,000 residents.

Gwynedd boasts several major tourist attractions, like Snowdonia National Park, miles of blue flag beaches and the Lleyn Peninsular. Destinations include Caernafon, Porthmadog, Barmouth, Bala  and Dolgellau.

Around 1.2 million second addresses (77%) were students on courses away from home or workers who travel or members of the Armed Forces.

The survey also revealed twice as many men have a second address, mainly for work, than women.

“The figures look at who is resident rather than who owns a property, so although 22,997 people give a second address in Cornwall, this number will represent much less than 22,000 properties as the people could be couples or families sharing a holiday home,” said an ONS spokesman.

Gwynedd is the council with the highest proportion of second addresses – next come North Norfolk (Norfolk Broads) with 48 people with second addresses per 1,000 residents, then South Lakeland (the Lake District), South Hams (Cornwall) and the Isles of Scilly, all with 45 people per 1,000 usual residents.