Where do the "North" and "South" begin?

Have you heard about the “North South Divide”?  Well, it seems that the boundary between the north and south is changing!  The dividing line is determined by looking at population numbers.  If more people move to the north of the country, then the dividing line moves north, and similarly, if people move south, then the line moves south too (think about splitting the country in half, NOT according to geography, but instead, according to the number of people who live here).  Look at the article below from yesterday’s Evening Standard in London (http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/this-is-where-the-north-of-england-starts-according-to-new-research/ar-AAuya6q?li=AAnZ9Ug&ocid=onepro)

© Provided by Independent Print Limited The north of Britain now officially starts in Leicestershire, according to a new study.



The UK’s population centre has moved from Upper Midway in Derbyshire to Snarestone in Leicestershire, experts at Liverpool University have said.  The shift is due to an increasing number of people moving south east for better employment opportunities, they added.  Areas around London and the south east have seen a constant increase in population between 1971 and 2011, researchers said.  However, large northern cities, including Birmingham, Newcastle and Glasgow, have seen more people leave according to five Censuses carried out over 40 years.  Chris Lloyd, Professor of Quantitative Geography at the University of Liverpool’s, who led the project, said: “Our study of population changes in Britain finds that the population centre for each Census has moved steadily further south from Upper Midway in Derbyshire to Snarestone in Leicestershire, as the population of the country has shifted towards the South East.  “This reflects a north-south divide in population growth, with more rapid growth in London and the south east of England than elsewhere.

“This urban growth links to opportunities, such as in employment, but also to challenges such as increasing overcrowding seen in outer London and other urban areas.”