Census data has revealed the neighbourhoods where Birmingham families live packed in cheek-by-jowl in some of the region's most crowded areas. Sparkhill North, the most densely-populated part of the city according to the data, has 121 residents for every patch of land the same size as a football pitch.
This was followed by areas such as Smethwick South East (83), Selly Oak (80) and Sparkbrook South (80). Some areas in and around Birmingham city centre, such as Central (39) and Hockley & Jewellery Quarter (45), were lower in comparison.
Looking at the national picture, the data showed more people live in the affluent neighbourhood of Maida Hill in Westminster per square kilometre than anywhere else in England and Wales. In that neighbourhood - named after a former pub honouring the British victory at the Battle of Maida in Italy during the Napoleonic Wars - the equivalent of 23,873 people live together on each sq km of land.
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That is the same as 170 people living cheek-by-jowl on a football pitch-sized patch of land. Residents living in the nearby Church Street neighbourhood, also in Westminster, are almost as crowded with slightly fewer people per sqkm (23,792).
At the other end of the spectrum, only five people live on each sq km of land in rural Bellingham, Otterburn and Redesdale within the Northumberland National Park. That is the equivalent of one person living alone on a patch of land the same size as 26 football pitches.
Unsurprisingly, rural communities and villages near Birmingham were among the least densely population areas in the region. They included Barnt Green and Lickey Hills, five people per football field, Pershore, five, and Hagley, six.
See how your neighbourhood compares with the interactive map below. Here are some of the most crowded areas in and around Birmingham according to the map:
Area / number of people per football field
Sparkhill North / 121
Smethwick South East / 83
Selly Oak / 80
Sparkbrook South / 80
Lozells West / 78
Attwood Green and Park Central / 77
Five Ways North / 71
Saltley East / 71
Little Bromwich / 70
Smethwick South / 70
Birchfield West / 69
Balsall Heath East / 68
Waterloo Road / 67
Handsworth South / 67
Lozells East / 67
Sparkhill South / 66
Got a story in Birmingham or elsewhere in the West Midlands? Get in touch by emailing alexander.brock@reachplc.com.
