# PRESS RELEASE

**For immediate release — August 2026**

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# MANCHESTER HAS THE HIGHEST STI RATE OF ANY UNIVERSITY TOWN IN ENGLAND — AND OF ANY DISTRICT OUTSIDE LONDON, NEW ANALYSIS SHOWS

## Eight of the ten districts with England's highest STI rates outside London host universities. Oxford's rate is now 66% higher than Cambridge's — and the gap is widening.

Manchester records the highest rate of new sexually transmitted infections of any university town or city in England, according to a new analysis of official 2025 sexual-health data published today by Erobella.

The **University Towns STI Index** ranks all 53 English towns and cities that host a university's main campus by their rate of new STI diagnoses, using the latest full-year surveillance figures (calendar year 2025) published by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) and the UK Health Security Agency.

**Manchester's rate — 924 new diagnoses per 100,000 residents — is more than double the England average of 441, and the highest of any district in the country outside London.** While England's overall rate fell 6.8% in 2025, Manchester's rose 2.5%.

## Key findings

- **Manchester ranks first** of the 53 university towns, with 924 new STI diagnoses per 100,000 residents in 2025 (5,449 in total) — 2.1× the national rate. It also records England's highest gonorrhoea rate outside London (297.6 per 100,000).
- **Greater Manchester appears twice in the top three**: Salford ranks third at 847 per 100,000, with its rate up 9% year on year.
- **Brighton ranks second** (859 per 100,000). Its headline rate is falling, but it records the highest syphilis rate of any university town — 41.2 per 100,000, roughly three times the national figure, and the second-highest of any English district outside London (after Blackpool).
- **Oxford's rate is 66% higher than Cambridge's**: 674 per 100,000 (ranked 5th) against 406 (ranked 22nd). The gap is widening — Oxford rose 11.8% in 2025 while Cambridge fell 23.6%.
- **Eight of the ten districts with England's highest STI rates outside London host a university's main campus** (fifteen of the top twenty). The two that don't: Blackpool and Slough.
- **University towns collectively record rates 55% above the rest of England** once London is excluded from both sides of the comparison, and account for roughly one in four of all new diagnoses in the country.
- **Towns hosting Russell Group universities average 473 diagnoses per 100,000, against 383** for the other 38 towns — a difference of 23%.
- **Lincoln ranks fourth** (749 per 100,000), above Oxford, Liverpool and Birmingham — and also records the highest chlamydia detection rate among young women of any district in England outside London, at three times the national average. Districts that test more thoroughly find more infections; public-health guidance treats wider screening as a positive outcome.
- **The lowest rates among university towns** are in Loughborough (199 per 100,000 — less than half the national figure), Winchester (206) and Chichester (209).
- **Sixteen of the 53 towns recorded rises in 2025** against the national fall. Birmingham's rate rose fastest (+24.8%); Middlesbrough's fell furthest (−29.2%).
- **Student populations and STI rates are strongly associated**: across all 259 non-London districts in England, the correlation between full-time-student population share and the local STI rate is r = 0.60.

## The ten highest-ranked towns

| # | Town | New STIs per 100,000 (2025) | vs 2024 |
|---|------|------------------------------|---------|
| 1 | Manchester | 924 | +2.5% |
| 2 | Brighton | 859 | −6.7% |
| 3 | Salford | 847 | +9.0% |
| 4 | Lincoln | 749 | −8.4% |
| 5 | Oxford | 674 | +11.8% |
| 6 | Liverpool | 638 | −12.9% |
| 7 | Norwich | 573 | +5.8% |
| 8 | Birmingham | 565 | +24.8% |
| 9 | Nottingham | 523 | −18.3% |
| 10 | Reading | 522 | +5.2% |

*England average: 441 per 100,000. The full 53-town table, interactive charts and downloadable data: [unitowns.belladata.org](https://unitowns.belladata.org/)*

## Comment

A spokesperson for Erobella said:

> "University towns are young, social places, so it isn't surprising that they sit high on this list — but the detail matters more than the ranking. Several of the highest-placed towns are also the ones testing most thoroughly, and finding infections is exactly what a working sexual-health system is supposed to do.
>
> "The national picture is genuinely encouraging — England's rate fell again last year and is down a quarter since 2019. The practical message for students, and for everyone else in these towns, is the same: testing is free, confidential and in most areas available by post, and most STIs are straightforward to treat. Knowing your status is the responsible default."

## Notes to editors

1. **About the data.** The index ranks every English lower-tier local authority containing the main campus of at least one substantial campus-based university (53 in total) by the standard official measure of STI burden: new STI diagnoses per 100,000 residents, excluding chlamydia diagnoses in under-25s (OHID Fingertips indicator 91306), calendar year 2025 — the latest published full year. Gonorrhoea (indicator 90759), syphilis (90742) and chlamydia detection in women aged 15–24 (90776) are reported separately. Rates describe all residents of each local authority, not students specifically.
2. **Student populations** are from ONS Census 2021 (full-time students as a share of residents aged 16+, table TS062).
3. **London is excluded** from the ranking because its roughly forty universities cannot be attributed to individual boroughs, and its rates sit far above the rest of the country (London averaged 1,050 per 100,000 in 2025; Lambeth recorded 2,445). Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland publish sexual-health data separately and on different definitions.
4. **Caveats.** Diagnosis rates partly reflect testing effort and clinic access; university cities also have large night-time economies, and students are not the only people being diagnosed. The correlation with student share is an association, not a causal claim. The full methodology, including all caveats, is published at [unitowns.belladata.org](https://unitowns.belladata.org/#method).
5. **Sources & licence.** Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (OHID Fingertips — Sexual and Reproductive Health Profiles, accessed 7 August 2026); Census 2021 data © Crown copyright. Erobella's compiled dataset is freely downloadable at [unitowns.belladata.org](https://unitowns.belladata.org/#press).
6. **Reuse.** All findings, tables and charts are free for publication in print or online, with credit to **Erobella** and (online) a link to [unitowns.belladata.org](https://unitowns.belladata.org/).
7. **About Erobella.** Erobella is a UK adult lifestyle brand. Its previous data studies include the Walk of Shame Line, an analysis of London's night-time transport patterns.

**Press contact:** Erobella press office — press@erobella.com *(please update before distribution)*

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*ENDS*