Glasgow - Demography

Demography

The 1950s saw the population of the City of Glasgow area peak at 1,089,000. During this period, Glasgow was one of the most densely populated cities in the world. After the 1960s, clearings of poverty-stricken inner city areas like the Gorbals and relocation to "new towns" such as East Kilbride and Cumbernauld led to population decline. In addition, the boundaries of the city were changed twice during the late 20th century, making direct comparisons difficult. The city continues to expand beyond the official city council boundaries into surrounding suburban areas, encompassing around 400 square miles (1,000 km2) of all adjoining suburbs, if commuter towns and villages are included.

There are two distinct definitions for the population of Glasgow: the Glasgow City Council Area (which lost the districts of Rutherglen and Cambuslang to South Lanarkshire in 1996) and the Greater Glasgow Urban Area (which includes the conurbation around the city).

Since the Great Irish Famine of the 1840s, and continuing up to the present day, large numbers of Irish-Scots and Irish Catholic immigrants (especially from County Donegal in Ulster) have settled in and contributed to the city. At one point only New York City had a bigger Irish expatriate population than Glasgow. Huge numbers of Scottish Highlanders also migrated to the city as a result of the Highland Clearances. The Irish and the Scottish Highlanders contributed to the explosive growth of Catholicism in the city.

In the early 20th century, many Lithuanian refugees began to settle in Glasgow and at its height in the 1950s there were around 10,000 in the Glasgow area. Many Italian Scots also settled in Glasgow, originating from provinces like Frosinone between Rome and Naples and Lucca in north-west Tuscany at this time, many originally working as "Hokey Pokey" men.

In the 1960s and 1970s, many Asian-Scots also settled in Glasgow, mainly in the Pollokshields area. These number 30,000 Pakistanis, 15,000 Indians and 3,000 Bangladeshis as well as Chinese immigrants, many of whom settled in the Garnethill area of the city. Since 2000, the UK government has pursued a policy of dispersal of asylum seekers to ease pressure on social housing in the London area.

Since the 2001 census the population decline has stabilised. The 2009 population of the city council area was 588,430 and the population of both the City of Glasgow Council area and Greater Glasgow are forecast to grow in the near future. Around 2,300,000 people live in the Glasgow travel-to-work area. This area is defined as having 10% and over of residents travelling into Glasgow to work, and has no fixed boundaries.

Compared to Inner London, which has 23,441 /sq mi (9,051 /km2)., Scotland's largest city has less than half the current population density of the English capital—8,603 /sq mi (3,322 /km2) In 1931 the population density was 16,166 /sq mi (6,242 /km2), highlighting the subsequent "clearances" to the suburbs and new towns that were built to empty one of Europe's most densely populated cities.

Glasgow has the lowest life expectancy of any UK city at 72.9 years. Much was made of this during the 2008 Glasgow East by-election. In 2008, a World Health Organization report about health inequalities, revealing that male life expectancy varied from 54 in Calton to 82 in nearby Lenzie, East Dunbartonshire.