With a total population of 1,141,400, 733,600 are working age and expected to grow by 12.2% in the next 20 years.
Of the current total population in Birmingham, 28.5% are under the age of 20 - the highest of any major city in the UK - and there are 4,703,600 of working age within 1 hour of Birmingham City Centre (by drive time).
Birmingham has the largest economy of any UK city other than London.
£28.2bn GVA per annum with a city region economy of £109.4bn GVA per annum. 31% of Birmingham’s GVA is generated by Business, Professional & Financial Services sectors.
The city has the largest Financial and Related Professional Services sector outside of London employing 53,000 people. The wider Midlands region has the largest accountancy and management consultancy cluster outside of London the region employs 358,000 in the BPFS sector – by some distance the highest for any city region outside of London.
Birmingham is home to more native speakers of French, German, Mandarin, Russian, Polish & Urdu than any other regional city. Birmingham is the most ethnically diverse population of any major UK city – 40.1% BAME.
Birmingham’s five universities produce 27,610 graduates each year (3rd in the UK) and the nine within the West Midlands Combined Authority produce 55,885 graduates each year including more Business, Finance and Law graduates each year than Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire combined.
In the last decade, Birmingham has hosted more sporting world championships than any other UK city and boasts 5 Michelin star restaurants, 10 in total across the wider region.
The average house price in Birmingham is £204.2k. Less than a third of the average house price in London and 32% below the national average. Average workplace pay is £30,676 pa, 22% lower than London.
Birmingham is the highest ranked English city behind London for quality of life by Mercer. It ranks ahead of Los Angeles, Dubai, Rome, Osaka & Shanghai. 15.58% of Birmingham’s land area is green space - higher than any UK city with a population over 250k (Ordnance Survey, 2017).
Birmingham New Street has more direct rail connections than any other UK station. Birmingham Airport is just 9 minutes from the City Centre by rail and serves over 140 direct global destinations.
Birmingham is at the heart of the UK’s largest infrastructure project, HS2, which will cut journey times to the capital to 49 minutes by the end of the decade. £5.1bn worth of investment in local connectivity including extending the Midlands Metro, opening 9 new suburban rail stations and building or reopening 33 miles of new rail track.
