Catalina Espinosa
Research expert covering society, economy, and politics for Europe and the EU
Birmingham - statistics & facts
Birmingham, is located at the heart of England's West Midlands metropolitan county which, as of 2023, had a population of around 2.98 million. Birmingham accounted for 1.16 million of this population, followed by other major settlements in the area such as Coventry and Wolverhampton. The main political figurehead for this area is the Mayor of the West Midlands, who as of 2024 was Labour candidate Richard Parker, after he edged the incumbent Andy Street in the May 2024 election by 37.8 percent of votes to 37.5 percent. During the Brexit Referendum of 2016 Birmingham was something of an outlier among large UK cities, in that it voted slightly in favor of leaving the EU, compared with fairly robust Remain majorities in cities such as London, Liverpool, and Manchester.
