Key facts about Birmingham
Information correct February 2010
- Population of Birmingham over 1 million
- Children and young people under 18 years of age over 250,000
- Total number of children in need 24,000
- Number of children subject to Child Protection plans 1,300
- Number of children in care 2,100
- Full-time equivalent posts in social work 700
- Number of residential care homes 24
- Residential care workforce over 600
- Children's social care budget 2009/10 £139 million
- Number of school pupils 176,783
- Number of schools 428
- Number of nursery schools 27
- Number of special schools 27
- Number of primary schools 299
- Number of secondary schools 75
- Number of home educated children/young people 420
Birmingham is a richly diverse city of over a million people, with a wide range of cultures, faiths and languages. Around 30 per cent of the city's residents are from black and minority ethnic communities. It is also a city with areas of significant deprivation.
Birmingham has the youngest population of any European city. According to the 2006 population estimates, more than 28 per cent are aged under 19 and more than 37 per cent are under 25. More than half of Birmingham's black and minority ethnic population is aged under 24.
People from black and minority ethnic (BME) groups are not evenly spread across the city. For example, 64 per cent of Ladywood's population is from BME groups but only 6 per cent of Sutton Coldfield's.
In terms of people born outside the UK:
- Sparkbrook, Handsworth and Ladywood are amongst the areas with the highest proportions nationally of people born outside the UK. In both Handsworth and
Sparkbrook, more than a third of residents were born overseas. - Sparkbrook and Ladywood are in the top ten areas nationally for people born in Bangladesh.
- Handsworth and Ladywood are in the top ten areas for people born in the Caribbean.
- Edgbaston is in the top ten for people born in China.
- Sparkbrook, Ladywood, Fox Hollies and Hodge Hill are in the top ten for people born in Pakistan.
- Handsworth is in the top ten for people born in India.
More than 50 home and community languages are spoken. The largest minority ethnic communities are Pakistani (18 per cent), African Caribbean (9 per cent), Indian (6 per cent) and Bangladeshi (4 per cent).
The city has some areas of affluence, but many of considerable poverty. Indices of disadvantage are much higher than those found nationally. For example, the
percentage of children and young people eligible for free schools meals is 35 per cent, nearly twice the national average. About 70 per cent of Birmingham's black and minority ethnic population lives in the ten most deprived wards of the city.
Overall, Birmingham is one of the most deprived 5 per cent of districts in the country and the most deprived in the region. It ranks highest of all districts on deprivation scales relating to income and to employment.
