MSP urges Glasgow to cash in on youth boom as stats show city has most marriages, children and young people in Scotland

Jun 6 2012 EXCLUSIVE by Tristan Stewart-Robertson

GLASGOW is booming as a young city with more people moving to the area, marrying and having children than elsewhere in Scotland.

New statistics found that nearly a quarter of the country’s largest local authority was aged 16-29, much higher than the Scottish average, while those aged 60 and over was below national figures.

And the median age in the city is 35, compared to 41 across Scotland.

More people moved to Glasgow than left across 2008-10 – and the only age group that didn’t see a net migration away from the city was the 16-29 range.

Marriages were up by 9.1 per cent, from 2009 to 2010 – and 53.8 per cent of those were aged 25-34, compared to 48.8 per cent for the Scottish average.

The number of births increased by 0.7 per cent, while it went down across Scotland by 0.4 per cent. MSP
Humza Yousaf said the city should cash in on its younger profile.

He said: “Glasgow is recognised as a city with good nightlife, shopping and is very student-friendly with a high quality of universities and colleges. We should capitalise on that.

“Having a young population is an advantage with our workforce. Perhaps we have an opportunity here.”

Glasgow’s population has fallen overall since 1985, but did grow in 2011 by one per cent to 598,830 compared to 2010, in the statistics from the National Records of Scotland.

Life expectancy amongst men is increasing at a faster rate than women, indicating how much room for improvement there remains with men’s health.

A full 28.2 per cent of men die from cancer and 30.1 per cent from circulatory diseases, in all two per cent above the total for such cases in women.

But the projections for the city in the coming decades show an aging population. While the population under 16 will only increase 1.5 per cent over 25 years, those aged 65-74 will go up 56.6 per cent and the
75+ age will climb by 35.9 per cent.