There don't seem to be any readily-accessibly statistics for England alone, but there are thought to be around 8.7 million people who are either permanently deaf or hard of hearing in the UK as a whole - as of 2013.
Of those, some 25,000 are children aged 0-15 years. (Many more children have temporary hearing problems during childhood, however.)
Most of the 8.7 million people who are deaf or hard of hearing have developed their hearing problems as a result of age - and only about 2% of children or young adults are affected.
The proportion of deaf people increases significantly in those aged over 50 and, by the age of 60, 55% of people are deaf, or hard of hearing.
Even people with mild deafness struggle to follow speech in noisy situations, such as clubs, bars or restaurants, and hearing aids don't always help with this, as they have a tendency to amplify all sounds, including background noise.
Deaf people can usually lip-read but, of course, this can be difficult in large groups of people, where not everyone can be clearly seen, or where the lighting is dim.
Cochlear implants are being increasingly used to help people who are deaf, but the sound they make is apparently nothing like "real" sound, and can be very stressful for people as they try to get used to it.
Some people, who have been given implants after a lifetime of deafness, have said that they preferred not being able to hear, as in this fascinating (and moving) video about a couple who decided to have implants after 65 years of silence:
