Millennial Map of the United Kingdom

As it is World GIS Day 2015, the team at Allmapdata, a division of Mapmechanics thought it would produce an interesting and topical map. As a company, we focus on Human Geography, which for those not in the know is the study of the interaction between human beings and their environment in particular places & across spatial areas. So, what’s trending, topical and of global interest? Well, that’s quite a lot to choose from, but we thought that a look at the much talked about ‘Millennial’ generation would be of interest to you the reader. The older member of this group are in their mid 30s and with buying power, but have yet to reach ‘Peak Earnings’. You hear a lot of noise in the Media about Baby Boomers, those born between 1946 – 1964, which a great proportion of these being classified as ‘Silver Surfers’ or the new trend of ‘Silver Splitter’ (people of more senior years getting divorced). But what about Millennials. After all, it is this group that are working or of working age and contributing to the economy in terms of income tax etc.

Who are millennials? They are defined as those born between 1981 and 1997. This means that they straddle the other generational groups referred to as Generation ‘Y’ (people born in the 1980s and 1990s) and ‘Z’ (people born in the 1990s and 2000s). Millennials make up 19.94% of the United Kingdom population based upon the 2011 Census. These 12,599,990 people are predominantly found within the major urban areas of the country.

As you would expect, the more rural areas of the UK contain less Millennials than Urban. This the Outer Hebrides, Llandrindod Wells and Galashiels having the least Millennials. The most dense concentrations are to be found in Central London, East London and South West London forming the top 4 followed by Manchester in 5^th position.

If we look at this at a more granular level, say that of postcode sector e.g. RG10 8, a level of geography favored by marketers as suitable detailed, yet not too small the picture looks like this:

Top 10 Millennial Hotspots:

These locations do have one major thing in common, they are all postcode sectors with large universities residing within them.

Bottom 10: The least popular areas for Millennials are

No Millennials:

There are 23 postcode sectors in the United Kingdom without any resident Millennials. One is due to a new postcode created for the London 2012 Olympics so not included within the 2011 Census, and a great many are simply depopulated rural areas or central business districts of just offices or non-geographic postcodes.

Mapmechanics have produced a set of maps allowing you to investigate your local areas or look at the national picture. These maps are available at Postcode Area (e.g. RG for Reading), Postcode Sector (e.g. RG10 the Wokingham area of Reading) and Postcode Sector (e.g. RG10 8 covering the areas of Charvil, Hurst, Ruscombe, Twyford, Wargrave, Wokingham).

To learn more about the geographic distribution of Millennials or Generation Z (1990s and 2000s), Generation Y (1980s to 1990s), Generation X (1965 to 1980), Baby Boomers (1946 to 1964), The Silent Generation (1925 to 1945) or the Greatest Generation (Before 1928) simply contact the team at https://www.allmapdata.com/contact-us/

Posted in Business Intelligence, Geographical Information Systems, Map Data