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Age trends

On this page the age structure of Glasgow’s population in 1901 is compared to its age structure in 2023.

Age structure of Glasgow’s population, 1901 and 2023

Population pyramid by five year age group, males and females

Glasgow’s population has changed considerably over the last century in terms of size and of age structure, as the graph illustrate. In 1901, more than half of Glasgow’s population was under 25 years of age and the city’s population was still growing. However, life expectancy was much lower than it is now – only 3% of the population were aged 65 or older.

In 2023, 122 years later, the size and structure of Glasgow’s population had changed significantly. Glasgow’s population of 631,970 was 143,591 lower than it was in 1901. Children made up a much smaller proportion of the city’s population – children aged 14 or under constitute 14% of the overall population, compared to 32% in 1901. There were also more older people; in 2020, 14% of Glaswegians were 65 years of age or older, compared to 3% in 1901. 

As has been the case throughout Glasgow’s history, women outnumber men overall (by around 10,000), and most notably in older age groups.

Population trends by age groupPopulation trends by age group, Glasgow, 1991-2023

Glasgow’s population continued to decline through the 1990s, in line with a long-term trend that began in the 1950s. Since 2007 there has been a steady rise in the city’s population, although the population decreased slightly in 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.   

Since 1991, the proportion of children and older people (65+ years) in the city have reduced as the working-age population (aged 16-64 years) has risen since the early 2000s. In 2023, 70.5% of the population were aged 16-64 years, compared to 64.7% in 1991.

Glasgow's population age structure compared to Scotland

Population by broad age band, Glasgow and Scotland, 2023

In comparison to Scotland, Glasgow had a larger ‘working-age’ (aged 16-64) population (70.5% compared to 63.4%) and a lower proportion of older people (14.1% compared to 20.3%). Much of this difference can be accounted for by the large student population who attend colleges and universities in Glasgow.

 Notes

This page was last updated in March 2025.

Further reading under ‘Population estimates’