WHERE ARE THEY NOW

MANCHESTER has suffered the biggest decline in population of any region in England over the past 20 years, census figures reveal.

The number of people aged between 20 and 24 in the city is around twice the UK average, but this can be explained by the large student population.

The figures from the UK Office of National Statistics reveal there are 392,819 people living in the city boundaries, a decrease of 15.1 per cent on 1981.

Overall there has been a decline in the region as a whole, compared to a growing population in London, the south, south east and eastern counties.

Population expert Dr Philip Rees said the trend in Manchester was matched by many other northern cities, including Liverpool, which has seen a similar if marginally smaller decline.

Dr Rees, professor of population geography at Leeds University, said the figures referred to Manchester city council boundary.

He said many people had in recent decades moved to suburban or even rural areas like Cheshire.