Connecting cultures and communities
You’ll find the Heart of England a lively, exciting and stimulating place to be. It’s where people of all ages – from all of origins, cultures and countries – connect together.
Large and varied population
The population for the West Midlands is 5,366,700, 9 per cent of the total UK population, with an average population density of 4.052 persons per hectare. Birmingham, the second largest city in the UK, has a population of over 1 million people. (Source: Census 2001, ONS.)
Young and modern community
The age structure for people living in the West Midlands is fairly typical of England as a whole. The West Midlands has fewer people in the 30-44 age group, 21.9 per cent compared with 22.6 per cent in England, but more in the 10-14 age group, 6.9 per cent compared with 6.6 per cent in England. This makes Birmingham the city with the youngest population in Europe.
Diverse culture
The West Midlands has the highest percentage of people of ethnic minority origins of any region of the UK outside London and 25 per cent of businesses in Birmingham are owned or managed by people from those communities.
The West Midlands has above average proportions of White Irish, Mixed White and Black Caribbean, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Black Caribbean people.
Indian people make up 3.4 per cent of the population of the West Midlands, including 8 per cent or more in Wolverhampton, Sandwell and Coventry. Pakistani people make up 2.9 per cent of the region's population, with the majority living in Birmingham. (Source: ONS, Census 2001.)
| Population |
| West Midlands Region | 5,366,700 |
| Herefordshire | 177,800 |
| Shropshire | 289,300 |
| Staffordshire | 822,800 |
| Stoke-on-Trent | 239,700 |
| Telford & Wrekin | 161,900 |
| Warwickshire | 522,200 |
| Birmingham, Coventry, Solihull & The Black Country* | 2,600,100 |
| Worcestershire | 522,900 |
* The Black Country is a loosely defined area of the West Midlands, to the north and west of Birmingham_– but only recently has it been marked on Ordnance Survey maps. The Black Country gained its name from the intense industrialisation in the mid nineteenth century. Echoes of bygone days remain – but the Black Country is now a thoroughly modern and bustling area.
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