Ethnic Diversity in Britain

Fifteen percent of all Black Caribbean's living in Britain live here, but only a couple of towns and cities, such as Birmingham and Wolver Hampton, have black populations (4.6% and 6.1% of all residents, respectively) significantly above the national average for England.

Nowhere else in the country has a black population so dominated by the Black Caribbean group; here, they outnumber people of African descent by more than seven to one (contrast this with London, where the Black African population has recently increased to a point where it now exceeds the number of Black Caribbean residents). Most other ethnic minority groups are represented in the West Midlands in similar proportions to other regions of England. There is, however, a much higher percentage of people from the Mixed White and Black Caribbean group than the national average - nearly 40,000 people, or 0.8% of all residents. In Wolver Hampton and Birmingham, this figure is even higher, at between 1.5% and 2%; across the whole of England, only a few inner London boroughs have marginally higher proportions of this group. [6]

1.5.4 London

The London region is, by some distance, the most ethnically diverse in Britain. People from ethnic minority groups made up 40% of its population at the time of the 2001 census.

Greater London is the metropolitan area which includes the City of London and the 32 London boroughs. The average population of each borough is around 250,000.

The region has a population of over 7.1 million and covers an area of 1,579 square kilometers. The population density is 4,761 people per square kilometers, more than ten times greater than that of any other English region.

Out of every 1,000 people, on average: 597 are White British; 120 are Asian; 114 are White non-British; 109 are Black; 32 are of mixed race; 11 are Chinese.

In 2001, 25% of people living in Greater London were born abroad, up from 19% in 2001. All but one of the top 25 local authorities in the Office for National Statistics' 'league table' of ethnic diversity were London boroughs. Only nine of the 32 boroughs were considered less than 'highly diverse' (that is, a less then 50 per cent chance that two people chosen at random will belong to the same ethnic group.

Within Greater London, more than 50 ethnic groups are represented in numbers of 10,000 or more. Nearly three-quarters of England's total Black African population live in London, as do six out of ten Black Caribbeans, half the Bangladeshi population, one in four Indians, a third each of England's White Irish, Mixed, and Chinese populations, and one in five Pakistanis. The whole population: 7,172,091. [5]

Table 1.8 Ethnic groups in London

There is, however, a marked difference in concentrations of people from ethnic minorities between inner London and outer London - in the former, a little over half of all residents are white and of British ethnic origin, but for the latter the proportion rises to two-thirds. London's ethnic make-up is constantly evolving. For centuries, the city has been the first destination for most people migrating to Britain. Today, the fastest growing ethnic minority groups in London are no longer Asian and Caribbean people; over the last decade, white Europeans and African people have formed the majority of new arrivals. According to the 2001 census, the number of black people of African origin living in London has, for the first time, overtaken that of people of Caribbean descent.

Foreign-born people living in London in 2001:

73,000 South Africans; 69,000 Nigerians; 66,000 Kenyans (mostly Kenyan Asians); 50,000 Sri Lankans; 46,000 Cypriots; 45,000 Americans; 41,000 Australians; 39,000 Turks; 38,000 French; 40,000 Germans; 39,000 Italians; 34,000 Somalis; 27,000 Zimbabweans; 27,000 New Zealanders; 25,000 Yugoslavs; 22,000 Portuguese; 22,000 Spaniards; 20,000 Iranians. [6]

1.5.5 North East England

The North East is the least diverse of England's nine regions. At 96.4%, its proportion of White British residents was greater than any other area at the 2001 census, and it had the smallest proportion of ethnic minority residents in 10 of the 16 census categories.

Out of every 1,000 people, on average: 964 are White British; 13 are Asian; 12 are White non-British; 5 are of mixed race; 2 are Black; 2 are Chinese. In 2001, 2.7% of people living in the North East were born abroad, up from 1.9% in 1991.

In 2001, the North East region had a total population of 2.5 million. This makes it by far the least populous region of England; the East Midlands, which is one place higher in the list, has 4.2 million inhabitants. The North East is the second-smallest in terms of area covered, at 8,592 square kilometers. The population density is 293 people per square kilometer of land.

The most diverse town or city in the region is Newcastle, yet even here only its Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Chinese populations are represented in numbers marginally greater than the average for the whole of England. The whole population: 2,515,442. [5]

Table 1.9 Ethnic groups in North East England

The town of Essington, on the North Sea coast, is, according to the Office for National Statistics, part of the least ethnically diverse local authority in Britain. People from ethnic minority groups make up less than 1.3% of its residents.

The region's black population - less than 4,000 people - is especially small, less than 0.2% of the population. This proportion is less than half that of the next lowest region, the South West. In Essington, at the time of the 2001 census, there were only 18 black people within a population of 94,000; it was alone among England's 376 local authorities in recording zero residents in one of the Office for National Statistics' ethnic categories (the Black Other group).

The North East and London are the only two English regions where the Black African population outnumbers the Black Caribbean one (by three to one, in the case of the North East).

The Asian group is by far the largest of all ethnic minorities in the region, at 33,000 people, or 1.3% of all residents. Following the trend elsewhere in northern England, it is Pakistanis who predominate within this group. A third of all Asians in the region live in Newcastle, where they make up 4.5% of all residents.

Elsewhere, populations tend to be very small; in Durham, for example, which has over 85,000 inhabitants, there are just 62 Pakistanis - one of the lowest proportions anywhere in England. [6]

1.5.6 North West England

Statistically, this region ranks seventh out of the nine English regions in terms of its number of ethnic minority residents. Only the North East and the South West have a greater proportion of people from the White British group (92.1%).

Out of every 1,000 people, on average: 921 are White British; 34 are Asian; 23 people are White non-British; 11 people are of mixed race; 8 people are Black; 8 people are Chinese. Foreign-born people accounted for 4% of the region's population in 2001 - up by one percentage point from 1991. On the other hand, some parts of the region - notably Manchester and the Lancashire towns of Blackburn, Preston, Oldham and Burnley - have much larger ethnic minority populations, particularly within the Asian groups.

The North West region has a total population of 6.7 million, according to the 2001 census. Geographically, it is the sixth largest of the nine English regions, covering an area of 14,165 square kilometers. It has a population density of 475 people per square kilometer; only London has a more concentrated population.

Across the region as a whole, there are nearly a quarter of a million Asian people, ranking it behind only London (over 850,000) and the West Midlands (almost 400,000) among all English regions. In Blackburn, one in five residents are of either Indian or Pakistani descent, while Manchester, Oldham and Preston all have Asian populations either close to, or exceeding, 10% of all residents.

These areas in Lancashire are notable for the fact that their large Indian populations are predominantly Gujarati Muslims; most people of Indian descent living in Britain are Hindus.

The entire North West is home to a quarter of England's 133,000 Indian Muslims, but only one in 20 and one in 50 of the Indian Hindu and Indian Sikh populations respectively.

The English-born Asian population in the North West is mostly descended from people who had arrived in Britain during the 1950s and 1960s, following the partition of the Indian subcontinent after the Second World War. However, the roots of the south Asian population here reach much deeper into history; during the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, workers from the subcontinent were a common sight in the mills and textile factories around the Pennies.

It is interesting to note that the Asian population in the North West is very highly concentrated within the Greater Manchester and Lancashire areas. Even if we move just a little further to the west, to Liverpool - which is only thirty miles from Manchester - or to Stockport, the proportion of Asian residents falls dramatically; barely 1% of Liverpool's population is of Asian origin. The whole population: 6,729,764. [5]

Table 1.10 Ethnic groups in North West England

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