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Demographics of Manchester

Manchester is a populous city in the North West of England. Its total population as of 2021 is 551,938.

This article focuses on the district, that being the City of Manchester rather than the built-up urban area.

Population

Historically the population of Manchester began to increase rapidly during the Victorian era, estimated at 354,930 for Manchester and 110,833 for Salford in 1865, and 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 population of Manchester currently sits at 551,938 as of 2021.

Age

Population pyramid of Manchester over time

Country of birth

Ethnicity

Manchester is an ethnically diverse city, comprising a vast degree of ethnicites from all over the world. The ethnic makeup of the city during the 21st century has changed, with 81% defining themselves as White and 74.5% White British in 2001, and 56.8% defining themselves as white and 48.7% White British in 2021. Asian British people have risen from around 6.6% of the city in 1991, to a total of 20.9% in 2021, with the majority being of Pakistani ethnicity. Black British people have additionally risen, in conjunction with Mixed ethnicity people and Other ethnic groups category, rising from 4.7% in 1991 to 12%, 3.2% in 2001 to 5.2% and 1.4% in 1991 to 5.1% respectively.

Below shows the estimations of the ethnicity of Manchester for 1971 and 1981, and the census results for Manchester's ethnicity in 1991 to 2021.

Religion

Religion in Manchester is complex. In recent decades, the city has seen a large degree of expansion of its Islamic population, now as of 2021 constituting 22.3% of the population, while Christians have declined in pre-dominance to 36.2% in 2021, from 62.4% in 2001.

Languages

A variety of languages are spoken in Manchester. 18.3% do not speak English as their main language, although just 2% or fewer residents are unable to speak English at all.