Society
The Society section provides access to research and
intelligence related to the following topics:
Population &
Migration
Health &
Wellbeing
Quality of Life
Culture &
Heritage
Voluntary & Community
Sector
Population & Migration
The Northwest is becoming an increasingly diverse place which,
like the UK as a whole is undergoing fundamental changes in its
demographic structure. Furthermore as fertility rates fall while
mortality rates rise, a consequence is that the population is
ageing. The demography and diversity of a population has
significant impacts upon the labour market, infrastructure,
cultural requirements and public service requirements.
Understanding trends in population can allow policy makers to
maximise benefits and minimise threats. Population and migration
research covers equality groups, ethnicity, migration, demographic
change, family and household composition and diversity.
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Health & Wellbeing
High standards of health are fundamental in ensuring the mental
and physical wellbeing of the population. Allowing people to live
long and healthy lives is not only vital to individual and societal
improvement but also economic development. The Northwest lags
behind the rest of England for a range of health indicators as well
as economic indicators demonstrating their inextricable link.
Research into health and wellbeing covers life expectancy,
lifestyle factors, mental health, and health and employment, the
relationship between health and deprivation and a range of indices
design to capture, in one way or another, the immense health
inequalities in the Northwest and beyond.
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Quality of Life
Entrepreneurial and community-spirited people are one of the
Northwest’s biggest assets. Their quality of life is fundamental to
both the future social and economical prosperity of the region.
Areas in the Northwest once considered the heartlands of British
industry are now amongst the most deprived; the port of Liverpool,
textiles towns of Lancashire and Greater Manchester, the former
steel town of Barrow-in-Furness. As industry has evolved these
areas have been left behind in deprivation and disadvantage.
Research into the quality of life of the Northwest’s residents
takes a number of forms including understanding levels of
deprivation, social and economic inclusion, income inequality,
worklessness, crime, and access to amenities.
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Culture & Heritage
Culture is one of the most important aspects of life in the
Northwest be it through the region’s diverse peoples, its world
class historic environment, its considerable sporting assets or
through its many hundreds of museums, galleries, theatres,
libraries archives and even the streets themselves. This list of
assets alone demonstrates that culture is a complex and dynamic
phenomenon, one which is contentious and one which means very
different things to different people. This conceptual challenge is
recognised through a broad research base which acknowledges the
many dimensions of culture in the Northwest – heritage, the arts,
tourism and the visitor economy, sport and cultural amenities.
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Voluntary & Community Sector
The Voluntary and Community Sector is also a vital tool in
developing quality of life at the grassroots level and has the best
access and the most up to date knowledge on the issues that affect
communities and neighbourhoods. Research into the sector includes
understanding its capacity, its scale, its economic impact and the
impact of the recession on its ability to help communities in
need.
Visit the Publications page to
access research related to the society themes above.
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