Manchester - Demography

Demography

The United Kingdom Census 2001 showed a total resident population for Manchester of 392,819, a 9.2% decline from the 1991 census. Approximately 83,000 were aged under 16, 285,000 were aged 16–74, and 25,000 aged 75 and over. According to the 2001 census, 85.2% of Manchester's population claim they have been born in the UK. Inhabitants of Manchester are known as Mancunians or Mancs for short. The census also revealed that Manchester had the second-lowest proportion of the population in employment of any local authority in the UK. In part this was due to the high proportion of students as Manchester had the highest proportion of students amongst local authorities. A 2007 report noted "60 per cent of Manchester people are living in some of the UK's most deprived areas".

Historically the population of Manchester began to increase rapidly during the Victorian era, peaking at 766,311 in 1931. From then the population began to decrease rapidly, due to slum clearance and the increased building of social housing overspill estates by Manchester City Council after the Second World War such as Hattersley and Langley.

The inhabitants of Manchester, as of many other large cities, are religiously diverse. At the time of the 2001 census, 62.4% of the city's population were Christian, and 9.1% Muslim. Other religions represented less than 1% each. The proportion of people without a religion (16%) was above the national average (14.8%), with 9.7% not stating their religion. The Jewish population is second only to London, and Greater Manchester also has one of the largest Muslim populations.

The percentage of the population in Manchester who reported themselves as living in the same household in a same-sex relationship was 0.4%, compared to the English national average of 0.2%.

In terms of ethnic composition, the City of Manchester has the highest non-white proportion of any district in Greater Manchester and 34th in England. Estimates from June 2009 state 77.3% people as 'White' (69.9% of residents as White British, 2.3% White Irish, 5.1% as Other White – although those of mixed European and British ancestry is unknown, there are over 25,000 Mancunians of Italian descent alone which represents 5.5% of the city's population). 3.2% as Mixed race (1.1% Mixed White and Black Caribbean, 0.5% Mixed White and Black African, 0.9% Mixed White and Asian, 0.7% Other Mixed). 11.3% of the city's population are South Asian (2.3% Indian, 5.2% Pakistani, 1.4% Bangladeshi, 1.3% Other South Asian). 4.8% are Black (1.8% Black Caribbean, 2.5% Black African and 0.5% Other Black). 3.5% of the city's population are Chinese, and 1.7% are another ethnic group. Kidd identifies Moss Side, Longsight, Cheetham Hill, Rusholme, as centres of population for ethnic minorities. Manchester's Irish Festival, including a St Patrick's Day parade, is one of Europe's largest. There is also a well-established Chinatown in the city with a substantial number of oriental restaurants and Chinese supermarkets. The area also attracts large numbers of Chinese students to the city who, in attending the local universities, contribute to Manchester having the third-largest Chinese population in Europe.

Based on population estimates for 2005, crime levels in the city were considerably higher than the national average. Some parts of Manchester were adversely affected by its rapid urbanisation, resulting in high levels of crime in areas such as Moss Side and Wythenshawe. The number of theft from a vehicle offences and theft of a vehicle per 1,000 of the population was 25.5 and 8.9 compared to the English national average of 7.6 and 2.9 respectively. The number of sexual offences was 1.9 compared to the average of 0.9. The national average of violence against another person was 16.7 compared to the Manchester average of 32.7. The figures for crime statistics were all recorded during the 2006/7 financial year.

The Manchester Larger Urban Zone, a Eurostat measure of the functional city-region approximated to local government districts, has a population of 2,539,100 in 2004. In addition to Manchester itself, the LUZ includes the remainder of the county of Greater Manchester. The Manchester LUZ is the second largest within the United Kingdom, behind that of London.