Demographics of Greater Manchester

The demography of Greater Manchester is analysed by the Office for National Statistics and data is produced for each of its ten metropolitan boroughs, each of the Greater Manchester electoral wards, the NUTS3 statistical sub-regions, each of the Parliamentary constituencies in Greater Manchester, the 15 civil parishes in Greater Manchester, and for all of Greater Manchester as a whole; the latter of which had a population of 2,682,500 at the 2011 UK census. Additionally, data is produced for the Greater Manchester Urban Area. Statistical information is produced about the size and geographical breakdown of the population, the number of people entering and leaving country and the number of people in each demographic subgroup.

Key statistics

Compared against the demographics 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. Compared against the demographics of the United Kingdom, Greater Manchester's ethnic minority population consists of 11.09% of the total population. NB. Information in the table on the right is from the 2001 census and not the most recent 2011 census.

As of 2020, the ONS estimates the population of the Greater Manchester Metropolitan County to be 2,835,686.

Population change

The following is a table outlining population totals of the area for every ten years since 1801, using material from the census in the United Kingdom via the Great Britain Historical GIS; pre-1974 statistics were gathered from local government areas that now comprise Greater Manchester. The total population of Greater Manchester is predicted to grow to around 2,950,000 by 2031, with the City of Manchester alone accounting for 36% of the growth.

Boroughs

According to the 2011 census, of Greater Manchester's ten metropolitan boroughs, the City of Manchester is the most populous with a population of 503,127, whilst the Metropolitan Borough of Bury is the least populous with 185,100. The city experienced the greatest percentage population growth outside London, with an increase of 19% to over 500,000. Manchester's population according to the 2021 census is 549,853, an increase of 9.2% from 2011. This represents a slower rate of growth than the previous decade.

In terms of ethnic composition, the City of Manchester has the highest non-white population 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. Almost 12% of people in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham are of South Asian heritage, the highest proportion of a borough of Greater Manchester.

With greater affluence, a recent trend has seen 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. The inner city areas that are being left are generally filled with newer immigrants from places like Iran, Afghanistan and Poland.

Rank2011Rank 2001Metropolitan districtPopulation in 2011Change 2001–201111Manchester503,12728.1%22Wigan317,8005.4%33Stockport283,3000.4%44Bolton276,8006.0%56Salford233,9008.2%68Trafford226,6007.8%75Oldham224,9003.5%87Tameside219,3002.9%99Rochdale211,7003.2%1010Bury185,1002.5%

Ethnicity

The following table shows the ethnic group of respondents in the 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 censuses in Greater Manchester.

Ethnic GroupYear1971 estimations1981 estimations1991 census2001 census2011 census2021 censusNumber%Number%Number%Number%Number%Number% White: Total –97.9%2,513,54596%2,414,41793.9% 2,260,507 91.1% 2,248,123 83.81%2,190,83876.4% White: BritishNew category created for the 2001 census–––––– 2,183,096 87.95% 2,141,687 79.84%2,045,95171.3% White: Irish–––––– 42,646 1.72% 34,499 1.29%30,9071.1% White: Gypsy or Irish TravellerNew category created for the 2011 census–––––––– 1,523 0.06%2,4090.1% White: Roma––––––––––3,2740.1% White: Other–––––– 34,765 1.40% 70,414 2.62%108,2973.8% Asian or Asian British: Total ––70,6702.7%108,6514.2% 151,876 6.1% 272,173 10.15%389,28313.5% Asian or Asian British: Indian––22,05330,909 35,931 1.45% 53,461 1.99%69,4812.4% Asian or Asian British: Pakistani––33,26452,107 75,187 3.03% 130,012 4.85%209,0617.3% Asian or Asian British: Bangladeshi––6,15611,958 20,064 0.81% 34,186 1.27%46,4601.6% Asian or Asian British: Chinese––5,9458,580 11,858 0.48% 26,079 0.97%29,5821.0% Asian or Asian British: Other Asian ––3,2525,097 8,836 0.36% 28,435 1.06%34,6991.2% Black or Black British: Total ––25,4161%33,9481.3% 29,747 1.2% 74,097 2.76%134,1144.7% Black or Black British: African––4,0715,638 16,233 0.65% 44,691 1.67%98,5573.4% Black or Black British: Caribbean––14,11918,371 10,255 0.41% 17,767 0.66%19,7110.7% Black or Black British: Other Black––7,2269,939 3,259 0.13% 11,639 0.43%15,8460.6% Mixed or British Mixed: Total–––––– 32,901 1.3% 60,710 2.26%86,5203.1% Mixed: White and Black Caribbean –––––– 13,104 0.53% 23,131 0.86%27,9061.0% Mixed: White and Black African –––––– 4,860 0.20% 9,997 0.37%16,3790.6% Mixed: White and Asian –––––– 8,547 0.34% 15,657 0.58%23,0050.8% Mixed: Other Mixed –––––– 6,390 0.26% 11,925 0.44%19,2300.7% Other: Total ––9,46713,577 7,297 0.29% 27,425 1.02%66,9972.4% Other: ArabNew category created for the 2011 census–––– 15,026 0.56%27,3221.0% Other: Any other ethnic group –– 7,297 0.29% 12,399 0.46%39,6751.4%Non-White: Total–2.1%105,5534%156,1836.1%221,8218.9%434,40516.2%676,91423.6% Total –100%2,619,098100%2,570,600100.00% 2,482,328 100.00% 2,682,528 100.00%2,867,752100%

Notes for table above

New category created for the 2001 census New category created for the 2011 census In 2001, listed under the 'Other ethnic group' heading.

Languages

The most common main languages spoken in Greater Manchester according to the 2011 census are shown below.

Rank Language Usual residents aged 3+ Proportion 1 English 2,370,094 92.12% 2 Urdu 31,712 1.23% 3 Polish 21,231 0.83% 4 Bengali (with Sylheti and Chatgaya) 16,946 0.66% 5 Punjabi 16,189 0.63% 6 Gujarati 11,651 0.45% 7 Arabic 10,914 0.42% 8 Persian 5,654 0.22% 9 French 4,924 0.19% 10 Somali 3,868 0.15% 11 Kurdish 3,656 0.14% 12 Portuguese 3,620 0.14% 13 Cantonese Chinese 3,440 0.13% 14 Spanish 3,252 0.13% 15 Pashto 2,684 0.10% 16 Italian 2,292 0.09% 17 Greek 2,199 0.09% 18 Czech 2,129 0.08% 19 German 2,088 0.08% 20 Pakistani Pahari (with Mirpuri and Potwari) 1,991 0.08% Other 52,197 2.03%

Religion

The following table shows the religion of respondents in the 2001 and 2011 censuses in Greater Manchester.

Religion200120112021Number%Number%Number% Christian 1,840,599 74.15 1,657,594 61.79 1,347,104 46.97 Buddhist 5,156 0.21 9,555 0.36 9,529 0.33 Hindu 17,260 0.70 23,478 0.88 27,892 0.97 Jewish 21,733 0.88 25,013 0.93 28,075 0.98 Muslim 125,219 5.04 232,787 8.68 373,877 13.04 Sikh 3,720 0.15 5,322 0.20 7,353 0.26 Other religion 4,301 0.17 7,429 0.28 10,801 0.38 No religion 281,273 11.33% 557,129 20.77 915,592 31.93 Religion not stated 183,067 7.37% 164,221 6.12% 147,541 5.14 Total 2,482,328 100.00% 2,682,528 100.00% 2,867,752 100.00%

Eurostat NUTS In the Eurostat Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS), Greater Manchester is a level-2 NUTS region, coded "UKD3", which is subdivided into the "Greater Manchester South" (UKD31) and "Greater Manchester North" (UKD32) level-3 regions.

Urban and metropolitan area At the 2001 census, the population of the Greater Manchester Urban Area was 2,240,230.Key Statistics for urban areas in England and Wales , 2001 Census. URL accessed 21 February 2007. This area does not include some outliers within Greater Manchester, such as Wigan, but does extend into the adjacent counties of Lancashire and Cheshire. Eurostat has developed a harmonising standard for comparing metropolitan areas in the European Union and the population of the Greater Manchester Larger Urban Zone is 2,600,100; it occupies an area of . The Greater Manchester LUZ is the second most populous within the United Kingdom, behind that of London, and sixteenth most populous within the EU.

Demographics of Greater Manchester

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