New research shows the city reduced its share of deprived inner-city neighbourhoods by 17 percentage points between 2010 to 2025.
Manchester has recorded the largest fall in inner-city deprivation of any UK city over the past 15 years, according to new research from the Centre for Cities.
Published on Thursday (21 May), the findings show deprivation has eased across several British cities since 2010, though progress has been uneven and concentrated in a handful of places.
Nationally, the share of inner-city neighbourhoods ranked among the UK’s most deprived 20% fell from 38% in 2010 to 31% in 2025. Across all urban areas, the proportion fell from 28% to 27%.
The report, Uneven cities: The geography of deprivation in urban Britain, highlights the role of major urban centres in driving change, particularly Manchester, Liverpool and London.
Last year, 58.4% of areas around Manchester city centre were classed among the most deprived in the UK, down from 75.7% in 2010.
Liverpool also recorded a notable shift – 53.7% of neighbourhoods fell into the most deprived category in 2025, compared with 64.4% in 2010. What’s more, the inner city itself saw a drop of 12.2 percentage points.
London accounted for the largest overall contribution to the national reduction, reflecting its scale. In inner London, the share of deprived neighbourhoods fell from 36.1% to 22.1%, while across the capital it declined from 23.1% to 16.1%.
Smaller gains were also recorded in cities such as Birmingham and Bristol.
Andrew Carter, chief executive of Centre of Cities, said: ‘The government’s Industrial Strategy and its Northern Growth Strategy rightly give large cities a driving role in improving living standards across the country.
‘The shifts in Manchester, Liverpool and London are nationally noteworthy and suggest a big cities-focused approach is a reliable way to improve living standards across the UK.’
However, several towns and cities, particularly in the North and Midlands, saw increases in deprivation. Seven of the ten places with the sharpest rises were in those regions, including Derby and Sunderland.
‘The challenge now is to build on the progress made since 2010,’ Carter continued. ‘England’s large cities now have metro mayors to champion their local economies, with the power to expand public transport connectivity to central areas, and build homes in well-connected locations – widening access to good jobs and opportunities across their regions, and delivering change that people feel.
‘Government needs to continue to back mayors to deliver and ensure their plans for fiscal devolution reward metro mayors for the steps they take to boost local growth.’
Image: Mylo Kaye/UnSplash
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