Demography of Greater Manchester

The demography of Greater Manchester is characterised by a number of trends recorded amongst its multicultural agglomoration of 2.55 million people, as part of census returns and other systems of measurement used in the English metropolitan county.

Greater Manchester is the third most populous, and seventh most densely populated, county in England.

Compared against the demography of the United Kingdom, Greater Manchester has significant ethnic minority population comprising 11.09% of the total population.^[1]

Key statistics

Compared against the demography of England, Greater Manchester's demographics are broadly inline with national averages on many topics. In terms of ethnicity, its Asian and British Asian population is considerably above the regional and national averages, as is the portion of residents who identify as Muslim.

Population change

The population of Greater Manchester has increased from around 328 thousand in 1801, to 2.5 million in 2001. It was at its peak in 1971, at 2.7 million.

Below is a table outlining population totals of the area for every ten years since 1801. Pre-1974 statistics were gathered from local government areas that now comprise Greater Manchester.

Year	Population		Year	Population		Year	Population
1801	328,609		1871	1,590,102		1941	2,693,775
1811	409,464		1881	1,866,649		1951	2,688,987
1821	526,230		1891	2,125,318		1961	2,699,711
1831	700,486		1901	2,357,150		1971	2,729,741
1841	860,413		1911	2,617,598		1981	2,575,441
1851	1,037,001		1921	2,660,088		1991	2,569,700
1861	1,313,550		1931	2,707,070		2001	2,482,352
Source: A Vision of Britain through Time.[5]

Boroughs

Manchester has always been vastly more populous than any other district of Greater Manchester.

According to the 2001 national census, Greater Manchester's ten metropolitan boroughs, the City of Manchester is the most populous with a population of 441,200, whilst the Metropolitan Borough of Bury is the least populous with 183,500. The City of Manchester's population in 2011 is predicted at just under half-a-million at 498,000^[6] and is the fastest growing of any British city.^[6]

In terms of districts by ethnic diversity, the City of Manchester is ranked the highest in Greater Manchester (34th in England), followed by the metropolitan boroughs of Oldham (45th in England), Rochdale (53rd in England), and Trafford (68th in England). Wigan is the least ethnically diverse borough in the county, and 274th in England.

The Metropolitan Borough of Oldham is the borough with the highest proportion of people under fifteen years of age.^[7] Almost 12% of people in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham are of South Asian heritage, the highest proportion of a borough of Greater Manchester.^[7]

With greater affluence, a recent trend has seen the some of the Pakistani community move out of the inner city into more spacious suburbs. In South Manchester this means that they have been moving from Longsight/Levenshulme to more suburban areas such as Cheadle, Chorlton and Heaton Mersey. Due to some of these suburbs having high house prices, the Pakistanis who live there tend to be of later generation with successful/professional careers. The inner city areas that are being left are generally filled with newer immigrants from places like Iran,Afghanistan and Poland.[2] [3][4][5]

Rank	Metropolitan district	Population in 2001
1	Manchester	441,200
2	Wigan	306,700
3	Stockport	281,600
4	Bolton	265,400
5	Oldham	219,200
6	Salford	216,400
7	Tameside	214,100
8	Trafford	213,200
9	Rochdale	206,400
10	Bury	183,500

Ethnicity

2005 estimates of ethnic groups in Greater Manchester.^[4]

• White - 2,261,200 (88.91%)
  • White British - 2,175,100 (85.52%)
  • White Irish - 38,800 (1.53%)
  • White Other - 47,200 (1.86%)
• Mixed Race - 39,700 (1.56%)
  • White and Black Caribbean - 14,400 (0.57%)
  • White and Black African - 6,000 (0.24%)
  • White and South Asian - 10,900 (0.43%)
  • Mixed Other - 8,100 (0.32%)
• South Asian - 165,700 (6.52%)
  • Indian - 44,500 (1.75%)
  • Pakistani - 84,300 (3.31%)
  • Bangladeshi - 23,600 (0.93%)
  • South Asian Other - 13,300 (0.52%)
• Black - 43,600 (1.71%)
  • Black Caribbean - 17,400 (0.68%)
  • Black African - 22,300 (0.88%)
  • Black Other - 3,800 (0.15%)
• East Asian and Other - 33,300 (1.31%)
  • Chinese - 19,800 (0.78%)
  • Other - 13,600 (0.53%)

References

1. ^ [1].
2. ^ United Kingdom Census 2001 (2007-01-17). "2001 Census; Key facts sheets". manchester.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 2007-10-07. http://web.archive.org/web/20071007163725/http://www.manchester.gov.uk/planning/studies/census/keyfacts/. Retrieved 2007-07-10. 
3. ^ United Kingdom Census 2001 (2001). "Greater Manchester (Health Authority)". neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk. http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadPage.do?pageId=1003&tc=1184106419348&a=7&b=789833&c=M7+4FU&d=14&e=6&f=90&g=353838&i=1x1003x1004x1005&l=179&o=1&m=0&enc=1. Retrieved 2007-07-10. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Lead View Table
5. ^ A Vision of Britain through time. "Greater Manchester Met.C: Total Population". http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/data_cube_table_page.jsp?data_theme=T_POP&data_cube=N_TPop&u_id=10056925&c_id=10001043&add=N. Retrieved 2007-04-06. 
6. ^ ^{a b} Walsh, Pamela (2 July 2011). "Mapped: Population hits a high as thousands flock to Manchester". Manchester Evening News. http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1425494_mapped-population-hits-a-high-as-thousands-flock-to-manchester. Retrieved 2 July 2011. 
7. ^ ^{a b} "BOROUGH PROFILE: Oldham". Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service. 2002. Archived from the original on 2007-05-18. http://web.archive.org/web/20070518102819/http://www.manchesterfire.gov.uk/irmp/draft_page.asp?id7=3&id8=2&id13=13&id43=5A. Retrieved 2007-02-10.