The demography of Birmingham, England, is analysed by the Office for National Statistics and data produced for each of the wards that make up Birmingham, and the overall city itself, which is the largest city proper in England as well as the core of the third most populous urban area, the West Midlands conurbation.
Population
Birmingham city's total population was 977,099 in 2001. The 2005 estimate for the population of the district of Birmingham was 1,001,200. This is the first time the population has broken the 1,000,000 barrier since 1996. This was a population increase of 0.9% (8,800) from 2004, higher than the 0.6% for the United Kingdom as a whole and 0.7% for England. It is believed to have been caused as a result of increased numbers of births, increased migration and a decrease in deaths in the district. The population of Birmingham is predicted to increase, though it cannot be predicted at certainty due to fluctuations in previous years in migration. The population in Birmingham is predicted to increase by 12.2% (121,500) from 992,100 in 2003 to 1,113,600 in 2028. This is an increase of around 4,000 - 5,000 each year until 2028.
The mid-year population estimates from previous years show a general decrease in the population of Birmingham from 1982 to 2002, before beginning to increase again up to 2005, with the increase from 2004 to 2005 being the largest population increase recorded. Though, in total, the overall decline in the population of Birmingham has been by just over 1%. The dependent population (0-14 and 65+) has declined since 2001 as the working population (15-64) has increased.
The ward with the lowest population following the boundary readjustments of 2004 was Ladywood with 14,801. Prior to the boundary readjustments, it had a population of 23,789. The ward with the highest population following the boundary readjustments of 2004 was Sparkbrook with a population of 31,485, which is an increase from 28,311 prior to the boundary adjustments.
Age Birmingham has a young population compared to England as a whole. The mid-year population estimates of 2005 estimate that Birmingham has a younger age structure compared to England, with a higher proportion of the population of Birmingham being under the age of 34, and lower proportion being above the age of 35, than England. In the 20 to 24 year age group, the proportion in Birmingham is about 2% above the national figure.
23.4% of people were aged under 16, 57.7% were aged between 16 and 59, while 18.9% were aged over 60. The average age was 36, compared with 38.6 years for England.
The district of Ladywood was found to have the lowest proportion of people who are 60 years and over than all other districts. Sutton Coldfield district had the highest proportion of people aged 60 years and over. Hodge Hill was found to have the highest population of people from the age of 0 to 15 whilst the districts of Edgbaston and Sutton Coldfield had the lowest.
Population density The population density is 3,649 people per square km compared to the 377.2 people per square km for England. The district of Hall Green had the most persons per acre at 55.22. Sutton Coldfield had the lowest number of persons per acre at 15.47, a difference of 39.75.
Gender Females represented 51.6% of the population whilst males represented 48.4%. These percentages are above and below the national, regional and county average respectively. However, the 2005 mid-year estimates recorded that there were more males in the city up to the 35-39 age group. 66% of the population of Birmingham that were aged 80 or over were women, and the population of women who were aged 80 or over was 5% of the Birmingham total, as opposed to 3% for males.
The district of Ladywood had the highest percentage of males in its population at 49.7%, whilst Northfield had the lowest at 47.45%. The ward of Ladywood was the only ward which percentage of males exceeded 50%, with a figure of 50.74%. Shard End had the lowest male population percentage at 46.68%.
Ethnicity
The following table shows the ethnic group of respondents in estimations for 1951, 1961, 1966, 1971, 1981 and in the 1991 to 2021 censuses in Birmingham.
Estimates vary for population sizes', in 1958 the official estimate by the Home Office of individual groups for Birmingham's 'coloured' population was around 20,000 Afro-Caribbeans, 7,000 Pakistanis, 2,000 Indians and 450 West Africans roughly, which is around the same total amount given for the 1961 estimates by Philip Jones.
Ethnic Group1951 estimations1961 estimations1966 estimations1971 estimations1981 estimations1991 censusAs UK Census data post 2001 is unavailable through the ONS website, it has been recommended to use archival census collection websites to obtain data. Data is taken from United Kingdom Casweb Data services of the United Kingdom 1991 Census on Ethnic Data for England. (Table 6)2001 census2011 census2021 censusNumber%Number%Number%Number%Number%Number%Number%Number%Number%White: Total1,107,68599.6%1,079,01897.6%1,014,35095.3%921,81990.9%838,75183.5%754,27478.48%687,40670.35%621,63657.93%556,60848.7% White: British–––––––––– – – 641,345 65.64% 570,217 53.14%491,21142.9% White: Irish––––––––––38,2903.98% 31,467 3.22% 22,021 2.05%16,9641.5% White: Gypsy or Irish TravellerNew category created for the 2011 census–––––––––– – – – – 408 0.04%6860.1% White: Roma ––––––––––––––––1,8330.2% White: Other–––––––––– – – 14,594 1.49% 28,990 2.70%45,9144.0%Asian or Asian British: Total––––––––106,55010.6%138,86714.44%195,79420.04%285,64026.62%355,38431% Asian or Asian British: Indian––––––––42,86551,0755.31% 55,749 5.71% 64,621 6.02%66,5195.8% Asian or Asian British: Pakistani––––––––49,40566,0856.87% 104,017 10.65% 144,627 13.48%195,10217.0% Asian or Asian British: Bangladeshi––––––––7,52312,7391.32% 20,836 2.13% 32,532 3.03%48,2324.2% Asian or Asian British: ChineseIn 2001, listed under the 'Chinese or other ethnic group' heading.––––––––2,523–3,3150.34% 5,106 0.52% 12,712 1.18%12,4871.1% Asian or Asian British: Other Asian ––––––––4,234–5,6530.58% 10,086 1.03% 31,148 2.90%33,0442.9%Black or Black British: Total––––––––49,4734.9%56,3765.86%59,8326.12%96,3608.98%125,76010.9% Black or Black British: African––––––––2,443–2,8030.29% 6,206 0.64% 29,991 2.79%66,8225.8% Black or Black British: Caribbean––––––––39,58544,7704.65% 47,831 4.90% 47,641 4.44%44,7183.9% Black or Black British: Other Black––––––––7,445–8,8030.91% 5,795 0.59% 18,728 1.75%14,2201.2%Mixed: Total––––––––––––27,9462.86%47,6054.44%55,2054.8% Mixed: White and Black Caribbean –––––––––– – – 15,644 1.60% 24,720 2.30%25,1192.2% Mixed: White and Black African –––––––––– – – 1,446 0.15% 3,223 0.30%4,6800.4% Mixed: White and Asian –––––––––– – – 6,307 0.65% 11,186 1.04%13,1301.1% Mixed: Other Mixed –––––––––– – – 4,549 0.47% 8,476 0.79%12,2761.1%Other: Total––––––––9,3490.9%11,5241.19%6,1090.63%21,8042.03%51,9654.6% Other: Arab–––––––––– – – – – 10,910 1.02%19,1961.7% Other: Any other ethnic group ––––––––––11,5241.19% 6,109 0.63% 10,894 1.02%32,7692.9%Ethnic minority: Total5,0000.4%28,1692.4%49,8704.7%92,4669.1%165,37216.4%206,76721.52%289,68129.65%451,40942.07%588,31451.3%Total1,112,685100%1,107,187100%1,064,220100%1,014,285100%1,004,123100%961,041100%977,087100%1,073,045100%1,144,922100%
Notes for table above
Detailed The following table shows the 20 largest ethnic groups as identified by the residents of Birmingham in the 2021 census.
Detailed ethnicityEthnic categoryEthnicityPopulationWhiteEnglish, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British491,179AsianPakistani or British Pakistani195,102AsianIndian or British Indian66,519AsianBangladeshi or British Bangladeshi48,232BlackCaribbean44,673BlackAfrican (unspecified)25,161Mixed/MultipleWhite and Black Caribbean25,119OtherArab19,196WhiteIrish16,971BlackSomali16,964Mixed/MultipleWhite and Asian (unspecified)13,130AsianChinese12,487BlackBritish9,411WhitePolish8,407AsianKashmiri8,224WhiteRomanian7,364WhiteEuropean Mixed7,138BlackNigerian5,764AsianAfghan5,293OtherSikh4,842
These detailed ethnicities are based on the self-designation entries used in UK ethnicity classifications. Of the "White" ethnicities, after European Mixed (7,138) shown in the table above, the next largest were White unspecified (2,539), Other Eastern European (2,301), and Roma (1,833). After Afghan (5,293), the next largest in the "Asian" ethnicities include Filipino (2,311), Other/unspecified (1,778), Vietnamese (1,681) and Sri Lankan (1,672); there was also a population of 2,138 Iranians in the "Asian" category, however a significant number (1,857) self-identified under the "Other" category, instead of "Asian". Similarly, there were 1,297 Sikhs who identified themselves as "Asian", but a larger number (4,842) identified themselves as "Other".
The next largest entries of the "Black" ethnicity group, after Nigerian (5,764), were Eritrean (3,020), Other/unspecified (2,467), Somalilander (2,261) and Ghanaian (2,229). In the "Other" ethnic category, the largest groups after Sikh (4,842) were Kashmiri (4,086), Kurdish (3,540), and "Any other ethnic group" (2,360).
Ethnicity of school pupils Ethnic groupSchool year1971 estimations1998/19992004200820122015/162021/2022Number%Number%Number%Number%Number%Number%Number%White: Total–84.9%105,53359.3%80,07052.6%68,58046.1%60,58539.8%60,67435.9%65,24631.6%White: British––––75,01049.3%63,92343%55,85636.7%53,49031.7%55,47626.9%White: Irish––––2,0101,6091,018753508White: Traveller of Irish heritage––––4035323836White: Gypsy/Roma––––20241197331,0480.5%White: Other––––2,9902,9793,5585,6608,1784.0%Asian / Asian British: Total––––45,39029.8%50,69634.1%56,75437.3%64,09638%77,89037.7%Asian / Asian British: Indian––6.8%9,4408,8848,7249,22410,7985.2%Asian / Asian British: Pakistani––29,36416.5%27,53018.1%32,12137,20942,10824.9%49,90124.2%Asian / Asian British: Bangladeshi––3.6%5,8906,8588,2149,48412,1245.9%Asian / Asian British: Chinese––5505686058291,5400.7%Asian / Asian British: Other Asians––1,9802,2652,0022,4513,5271.7%Black / Black British: Total––––13,4708.8%15,41010.4%17,45511.5%20,82512.3%26,01512.6%Black: Caribbean––11,5676.5%8,5107,7067,4556,9166,5153.2%Black: African––3,5802.4%6,1738,27411,72716,9038.2%Black: Other Blacks––1,3901,5281,7272,1822,5971.3%Mixed / British Mixed––6,4063.6%8,8905.8%9,1906.2%10,5506.9%13,0547.7%19,9509.7%Other: Total––––2,5001.6%3,5932.4%5,2353.4%7,7424.6%11,9645.8%Unclassified––––1,9301.3%4440.3%1,5911.5%2,4201.4%5,3042.6%Ethnic minority: Total18,54915.1%72,43240.7%72,18047.4%79,33353.9%91,58560.2%108,13764.1%141,12368.4%Total:–100%177,965100%152,210100%148,640100%152,170100%168,811100%206,369100%
Ethnicity of births Ethnic Group1981 estimates2021Number%Number%White: Total–75%5,05834.9%White: British––4,02927.8%White: Other––1,0297.1%Asian / Asian British: Total––5,59538.6%Asian / Asian British: Indian––7595.2%Asian / Asian British: Pakistani––3,41723.6%Asian / Asian British: Bangladeshi––7084.9%Asian / Asian British: Other Asians––7114.9%Black / Black British: Total––1,73512%Black: Caribbean––4192.9%Black: African––1,1287.8%Black: Other Blacks––1881.3%Mixed / British Mixed––1,45510.1%Other: Total––5784.0%Not stated––550.4%Non-White: Total (not including Not stated)–25%9,36364.7%Total:–100%14,476100%
Country of birth
Country of birthYear19511961197119811991200120112021Number%Number%Number%Number%Number%Number%Number%Number%United Kingdom1,054,80694.9%1,011,31691.3%883,61087.1%857,03286%823,35185.7%815,83783.4%834,73277.8%838,95973.3%Foreign born56,9465.1%95,8658.7%131,06012.9%139,33114%137,72814.3%161,25016.6%238,31322.2%305,96026.7%Total1,111,752100%1,107,181100%1,014,670100%996,363100%961,079100%977,087100%1,073,045100%1,144,919100%
National identity