1According to the latest census, the population of the city stands at five hundred and thirty thousand, an increase of six percent in ten years.
2Nearly one quarter of residents are under eighteen, while thirteen percent are aged sixty-five or older, figures that broadly match the national picture.
3The average household contains two point four people, down slightly from two point seven recorded twenty years ago.
4Unemployment fell to four point one percent, the lowest figure since the census of nineteen ninety-one in the region.
5Around sixty-two percent of homes are owner occupied, and the average house price is now two hundred and forty thousand pounds.
6The fastest growing district is Ancoats, spelled A-N-C-O-A-T-S, where the population has doubled in just fifteen years according to officials.
7Public transport use has risen sharply, with forty-one percent of commuters now travelling to work by bus, tram or train.
8The report also notes that thirty-eight languages are spoken in local schools, reflecting decades of migration from Europe, Asia and Africa.
9City planners expect the population to reach six hundred thousand by the year twenty thirty-five if current trends continue.
10The full census report runs to three hundred pages and can be downloaded free of charge from the council website.