Ethnic Diversity in Britain

2

Курсовая работа

Ethnic Diversity in Britain

Гомель 2007

Introduction

The aim of this work is to find more facts about the country concerned, to work with further sources in order to learn deeper information about the population of Great Britain, to show the contemporary information of today's population of Great Britain.

The work is divided in three chapters. The first «U.K. Ethnic Groups» includes information about the ethnic population of the Great Britain. It is also the biggest part. According to the size of the chapter it is seen that the highest degree of attention is given to this one. It is so because this chapter contains the most important and full information about ethnic groups in the U.K. The chapter is divided in five parts according to the region. Each part contains particular information about the population in this very region and figures reflecting the numbers of minorities. Also it is important to give information about the native inhabitants of Great Britain.

The second chapter shows information about the population of Great Britain in general. It contains some separated parts. The fourth part includes the detailed data of the variety of the communities, the people, the origins and way of life.

The information of the third chapter is the most up-to-date. It reflects the modern situation of the population. It shows the main problems of today's Britain, such as overpopulation, and gives some reasons for that.

For millions of people all over the world, Britain is the land of tradition, the Royal Family, Beefeaters, Bobbies on the beat and, above all, white people. In much of middle America, it comes as a shock for them to hear that there any black people in Britain at all. But even if people can get their head around the idea that an Afro-American might be British, the notion that he could be an MP often perplexes them.

An MP Surely, one can see their eyes say, a British MP must be white. There are many lifetimes of war, conquest, history, literature, culture and myth behind the idea that Britain is a racially pure society. And in the study of history, myth is just as important as reality. But the racial purity of the British has always been a myth.

From the days when the Norman French invaded Anglo-Saxon Britain, the British have been a culturally diverse nation. But because the different nationalities shared a common skin colour, it was possible to ignore the racial diversity, which always existed in the British Isles. And even if one takes race to mean what it is often commonly meant to imply - skin colour - there have been black people in Britain for centuries. The earliest blacks in Britain were probably black Roman centurions that came over hundreds of years before Christ. But even in Elizabethan times, there were numbers of blacks in Britain. So much so that Elizabeth I issued a proclamation complaining about them. Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth century, black people make fleeting appearances in the political and cultural narrative of the British Isles. Black people can be seen as servants in the prints of Hogarth. In Thackeray's «Vanity Fair», Ms Schwartz, the West Indian heiress is obviously supposed to be of mixed race. She is gently mocked but her colour is not otherwise remarked on.

Britain has always been a multi-racial society. What is new is the visibility of its racial diversity. And what is newer still is a willingness to accept that all the races can have parity of esteem. For a long time, even when it was acknowledged that there were people of different racial origin within the British Isles, there was an assumption that the white race and culture was, and should, be dominant.

Racial stereotyping echoes through British literature and culture almost to the present day. And for some time, assumptions of racial inferiority coloured mainstream British perception of non-white culture and art. The Notting Hill Street Carnival is the biggest street festival and a miracle of creativity with costumes that take months to sew and wonderful music and dance. But it is only recently that mainstream press has reported it as anything other than a law and order issue.

However, in recent years, people have begun to acknowledge the presence of non-white people in Britain in a positive way. And even to talk about Britain as a multi-racial Society. Although there are some people who would resist this description and pretend Britain's continuing ethnic diversity doesn't exit and insist on Britain being described as a European or white country. But although the phrase multi-racial society is used quite frequently, a genuinely multi-racial society with genuine parity of esteem is quite difficult to achieve. The Caribbean is often cited as a part of the world where you can find multi-racialism in action. The national motto of Jamaica for instance is «Out of Many, One People». However, it is noticeable that even in these supposed bastions of harmonious multi-racialism, tensions have arisen between different races. In Trinidad, for instance, the archetypal multi-racial island in the sun, there is bitter rivalry between the Asian and African-Caribbean community. The issue is equality. Where one ethnic group is demonstrably subordinate to another, it is idle to talk about multi-racialism because in reality one culture is dominant. Furthermore, the political attractions of playing the race card are often irresistible, multi-racialism just doesn't have the same visceral appeal to popular sentiment. But multi-racialism is a tricky balance to achieve. On the one hand, there has to be a measure of economic equality and genuine parity of esteem. But on the other, it should not mean obliterating differences or pretending differences do not exist. Britain would be the poorer without its different races and their different cultural traditions. But it would also be a mistake to try and iron out these differences in the name of multi-racialism. Of course, a vexed question is of the relative merit of different cultures and cultural traditions. It is very difficult in these cases to distinguish where objective judgement starts and prejudice begins. In European societies, the bias tends to be that European culture and tradition are necessarily superior. But in the words of the American blues songs «It ain't necessarily so.»

There is no doubt the history of twentieth century popular music is very much the history of African music as it has been mediated through North America. There is almost no sort of pop music that doesn't owe something to black American influence. And in art, the influence of African art has long been acknowledged on modern abstract painters like Picasso. More recently, the literary establishment has been willing to acknowledge the contribution of black and ethnic minority writers like Ben Okri, Alice Walker and Nobel prize winning Toni Morrison. And at the level of popular culture, different races have enriched British life greatly.

1. U.K. Ethnic Groups

1.1 The Native British

The first human inhabitants of Britain settled there in prehistoric times, when Britain was joined to the continent. They came there over dry land.

Later (after 3000 BC1) the Iberians and the Apline tribes lived on the British Isles. Those peoples probably formed the basis of the present-day population of the country.

In different periods of the history of the country it was occupied by different invaders. Soon after 700 BC Britain was invaded by the Celts, who are supposed to have come from Central Europe and settled in Britain. From 55 BC the Celts were subject to the conquest and occupation of the Romans, later (in the 5th century) of the Germanic tribes (the Jutes, the Saxons and the Angles), then of the Danes and of the Normans'. Thus the English nation was formed of all those peoples. [1]

1.1.1 The Anglo-Celtic People

Anglo-Celtic is a notional racial or cultural category, used primarily in Australia to describe people of British and/or Irish descent. To a lesser degree the term is also used in New Zealand, Canada and the United States. It is considered to refer to the ethnic majority in Australia, where it applies to at least 80% of the population. In this instance, «Anglo» is an abbreviation for Anglo-Saxon, a collective term for ancient Germanic peoples who settled in Britain (especially England) in the middle of the first millennium.

«Celtic», in this instance, refers strictly to the nations of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and the Isle of Man. The term does not include the Celtic peoples of continental Europe, such as the Bretons.

The term Anglo-Celtic is used by secessionists in the Southern United States, such as the League of the South, whose mission statement is «to protect the historic Anglo-Celtic core culture of the South because the Scots, Irish, Welsh, and English have given Dixie its unique institutions and civilization». Celtic traditions and customs have continued in England, particularly in extremities of the south west and the north. As a whole, England is not a Celtic country because it lacks a Celtic language; during the 'Celtic' era, Great Britain was populated by a number of regional Celtic tribes, none of whom directly ended up forming the English nation. In Celtic languages, it is usually referred to as «Saxon-land» (Sasana, Pow Saws, Bro-Saoz etc), and in Welsh as Lloegr.

Unlike many of the above examples, there is little political motivation behind this search for a more complex identity, but a recognition that local linguistic and cultural peculiarities can be traced back to Celtic origins. Cumbria, for example, retains some Celtic influences from local sports (Cumberland wrestling) to superstitions, and traces of Cumbric are still spoken, famously by shepherds to count their sheep. There has been a suggestion to bring back Cumbrian as a language and about 50 words of a reconstructed, hypothetical «Cumbric» exist. However, most competent scholars believe that it would be little different from an archaic dialect of Northern Welsh, but the evidence is far too slight to make a meaningful attempt. The county is also home to the Rheged discovery centre profiling the Celtic history of Cumbria. Its name is cognate with Cymru, the Welsh name for Wales meaning Land of Comrades. [2]

English Celtic revivalism has not always been popular with its neighbours, many of whose own revivals have sought to counteract the majority culture of England within the United Kingdom. It also tends to be apolitical, in strict contrast to that of the «Six», Galicia or even Padania. Early revivalism concentrated on King Arthur, fairy and folklore and also Boudicca, whose statue stands outside the Palace of Westminster. Boudicca, who fought Roman imperialism, was looked up to by one or two Victorian English imperialists, who claimed «her new empire» was bigger than the Roman. Modern revivalism has focused more on music, mythology, rituals such as the Druids and a better understanding of Celtic festivals that have been observed in England since the Celtic period, and dialect or language. [3]

Some recent studies have suggested that, contrary to long-standing beliefs, the Germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons) did not wipe out the Romano-British of England but rather, over the course of six centuries, conquered the native Brythonic people of what is now England and south-east Scotland and imposed their culture and language upon them, much as the Irish may have spread over the west of Scotland. Still others maintain that the picture is mixed and that in some places the indigenous population was indeed wiped out while in others it was assimilated. According to this school of thought the populations of Yorkshire, East Anglia, Northumberland and the Orkney and Shetland Islands are those populations with the fewest traces of ancient. [4 p. 26]

1.1.2 The Cornish People

The Cornish people are regarded as an ethnic group of Britain originating in Cornwall. They are often described as a Celtic people. The number of people living in Cornwall who consider themselves to be more Cornish than British or English is unknown. One survey found that 35.1% of respondents identified as Cornish, with 48.4% of respondents identifying as English, a further 11% thought of themselves as British. A Morgan Stanley survey in 2004 indicated that 44% of people in Cornwall identify as Cornish rather than English or British. As with other ethnic groups in the British Isles, the question of identity is not straightforward. Ethnic identity has been based as much on cultural identity than on descent. Many descendants of people who came and settled in Cornwall have adopted this identity.

In the 2001 UK Census, the population of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly was estimated to be 501,267. Cornish community organizations tend to consider half of these people to be ethnic Cornish.

A recent survey by the University of Plymouth found that, when given the opportunity, over a third of pupils in Cornish schools identified themselves as Cornish.

The UK government has agreed recently that English and Welsh will have an ethnicity tick box on the Census 2011 but there will be no Cornish option tick box. Various Cornish organizations are campaigning for the inclusion of the Cornish tick box on the next 2011 Census. Many who perceive themselves to be of the Cornish nation also consider themselves to be descended from the Brythons, or Cornovii (Cornish), of the post-Roman period. For this reason they consider there to be a kinship connection with the Welsh and Breton peoples and more distantly with the Scots, Manx and Irish. After the Anglo-Saxon conquest of southern, eastern and central Great Britain, Brythonic speakers were gradually pushed further into the fringes, eventually cutting them off into three groups - the Southwestern Britons, the West Britons (the Welsh) and the Northern Britons.

This sense of a shared past is given voice in such organizations as the Celtic League and Celtic Congress, both of whom recognize Cornwall and the Cornish as a Celtic nation. Today, many family and given names from Cornwall are clearly rooted in the Cornish language. [1]

1.2 Scotland

The most recent national survey of Scotland's population, the 2001 census, revealed that almost 98% of the country's inhabitants were white. However, it also showed that Scotland's number of foreign-born residents is increasing faster than that of England or Wales.

Out of every 1,000 people, on average: 880 are White Scottish; 74 are White (non-Scottish) British; 25 are from other white groups, including Irish; 11 are Asian; 3 people are of mixed race; 3 people are Chinese; 2 people are Black.

In 2001, 3.3% of people living in Scotland were born abroad, up from 2.5% in 1991. Scotland had a population of just over 5 million people at the time of the 2001 census. It covers an area of 78,772 square kilometers, meaning that, on average, just 64 people live on each square kilometers of Scottish soil (for England the figure is 377, in Wales 140).

The ethnic group classifications used in Scotland's census differ slightly from those in England and Wales, most notably in that white Scottish people and other white British people (mostly people from England and Wales) are counted separately. This latter category forms the largest ethnic minority group in Scotland (7.4% of the population, or roughly one on 14 people), although there is considerable variation from area to area; in Edinburgh, one in nine people (11.4%) are from this Other White British category, while in Glasgow the figure is as low as one in 30 (3.6%). The whole population: 5,062,011. [5]

Table 1.1 Ethnic groups in Scotland

Ethnic group/sub-group	Population	Proportion of all residents%
White		4,960,334	97.9
	Scottish	4,459,071	88.0
	Other White British	373,685	7.38
	White Irish	49,428	0.97
	Other	78,150	1.54
Asian		55,007	1.08
	Indian	15,037	0.29
	Pakistani	31,793	0.62
	Bangladeshi	1,981	0.03
	Other South Asian	6,196	0.12
Mixed		12,764	0.25
Black		8,025	0.15
	Caribbean	1,778	0.03
	African	5,118	0.10
	Black Scottish or Other Black	1,129	0.02
Chinese		16,310	0.32
Other		9,571	0.18

Since the 2001 Census was carried out, the Scottish Executive has actively encouraged migration to Scotland through its Fresh Talent initiative. This was partly born from fears that a shrinking population in Scotland would hinder its economic competitiveness.

Unsurprisingly, given its close proximity to Northern Ireland and Eire, Glasgow has a sizeable Irish population which has left a strong cultural imprint on the city. During the two years from June 2004, an estimated 32,000 people from Eastern Europe came to live and work in Scotland; 20,000 of whom were Poles. For context, in the 2001 census, the White Other group - within which many of these new migrants are likely to belong - accounting for just 78,000 people in the whole of Scotland. Within this total are small numbers of American - and Dutch-born residents; 800 people from the Netherlands alone live in the Aberdeen area, where the Dutch oil company Shell operates a refinery.

Given is close proximity to Ireland, it is not surprising that Scotland has a relatively large Irish population. Nearly 50,000 people indicated this as their ethnic origin in the 2001 census. In Glasgow, which is the city physically closest to the Irish mainland, Irish people make up 2% of the local population. Aside from the Other White British, the next largest ethnic minority group in Scotland is Asian. Although Asian residents make up barely more than 1% of the population as a whole (55,000 people), in some inner-city areas they are highly concentrated. In parts of central Glasgow, such as Pollokshields, as much as 40% of the local population are of Pakistani origin. This city has more than 15,000 Pakistani residents; very nearly half of all people from this group living in Scotland. Unlike in England, where Indians form the largest Asian sub-group, in Scotland it is Pakistanis who predominate, by nearly two-to-one.

Scotland has very few black residents; around 8,000, or 0.2% of the population. Even where people from this group are most strongly concentrated (in Perth), they account for rather less than half of one percent of the local population. Black Africans outnumber Black Caribbean's by almost three-to-one; in England, the latter is slightly more populous than the former. The Chinese population is twice as large as the black population, and proportionally almost the same as in England; only this and the White Irish group are proportionally similarly represented in the population of both countries. [6]

1.3 Wales

Wales is much less ethnically diverse than England; people from ethnic minorities made up only 4% of its population in 2001, compared to 13% for England. Out of every 1,000 people, on average: 959 are White British; 19 are White non-British; 9 are Asian; 6 are of mixed race; 2 are Black; 2 are Chinese.

In 2001, 2.7% of people living in Wales were born abroad, up from 2.2% in 1991. It is also less diverse than Scotland, although like-for-like comparisons are difficult, because Scotland uses a different system of ethnic classification.

At the time of the 2001 census, there were 2.9 million people living in Wales across an area of 20,779 square kilometers. Its population density of 140 people per square kilometer is lower than any region of England.

The population distribution within Wales is very uneven, as it combines a few large population centers with large areas of sparsely inhabited, mostly rural land. Cardiff, its capital city, is home to more than half of all black people living in Wales, and just under half of its total Asian population. Wales has fewer foreign-born residents than any other nation or region in Britain - just 2.7% of the total population - and also recorded the smallest increase in people born abroad at the 2001 census. The whole population: 2,903,085. [5]

Table 1.2 Ethnic groups in Wales

Ethnic group/sub-group	Population	Proportion of all residents%
White		2,841,505	97.8
	British	2,786,605	95.9
	Irish	17,689	0.60
	Other	37,211	1.28
Mixed		17,661	0.60
	White and Black Caribbean	5,996	0.20
	White and Black African	2,413	0.08
	White and Asian	5,001	0.17
	Other mixed	4,251	0.14
Asian		25,448	0.87
	Indian	8,261	0.28
	Pakistani	8,287	0.28
	Bangladeshi	5,436	0.18
	Other Asian	3,464	0.11
Black		7,069	0.24
	Caribbean	2,597	0.08
	African	3,727	0.12
	Other Black	745	0.02
Chinese		6,267	0.21
Other		5,135	0.17

South Wales' Somalis form one of the oldest migrant communities in Britain. The first migrants came to work in the docks of Cardiff and Newport at the end of the 19th century. Today, there are believed to be around 7,000 people of Somali descent living in Wales.

Nearly 26,000 Asian people living in Wales in 2001, making this group the largest ethnic minority in the country. The population is split very evenly between Indians and Pakistanis, although in Cardiff there is a rapidly growing Bangladeshi population which now makes up more than a quarter of all Asians in the city. Aside from Cardiff, where 4% of all residents are Asian, the next largest concentration of this group is in Wrexham (2.6%), where Pakistanis predominate.

Although the number of black people living in Wales appears small, amounting to just over 7,000 people or a quarter of one percent of the population, there is some doubt as to whether the Census 2001 data accurately reflect the true size of the black population. For example, the Somali population in Cardiff alone is estimated at anywhere between 4,000 and 10,000 people, and is thought to be the largest concentration of people originating from this country anywhere in Britain. Unlike England, Wales has a majority African black population. In many parts of Wales, especially in the valleys and to the north of the country, non-white people are a rare sight. In Wrexham, 99% of the population are white, and there are only 164 black people out of a total population of 128,000. [6]

1.4 Northern Ireland

Here is given the number of all persons resident in Northern Ireland and those having moved from Northern Ireland to elsewhere in the UK in the past year.

Table 1.3 Ethnic groups by migration (persons)

	All persons	Lived at same address	No usual address one year ago	Lived elsewhere one year ago, within Northern Ireland	Inflow	Lived elsewhere outside Northern Ireland but within UK	Lived elsewhere outside UK	Outflow	Moved out of Northern Ireland but within UK	Net migration within the UK
All persons	1685267	1527857	10396	128040	18974	11539	7435	12479	12479	-940
White	1672698	1518280	10120	126586	17712	11164	6548	11900	11900	-736
Mixed	3319	2644	42	435	198	77	121	103	103	-26
Asian	2679	2135	37	255	252	102	150	258	258	-156
Black	1136	763	30	158	185	84	101	79	79	5
Chinese and other	5435	4035	167	606	627	112	515	139	139	139

Inflow is not an exact count of persons moving into Northern Ireland as it does not include persons who had no usual address one year ago who did not live within Northern Ireland. Outflow is not a count of all persons moving out of Northern Ireland as it does not include persons who have moved outside the UK. Persons under one year old, living in households, take the migration characteristics of their next of kin, instead of 'no usual address one year ago'. Net migration within the UK subtracts the number of persons who have moved out of Northern Ireland but within UK from the number of persons who lived elsewhere outside Northern Ireland but within UK. It does not include persons who lived elsewhere outside the UK. Here is given the number of all persons aged 16 to 74 in employment in the area.

Table 1.4. Ethnic groups by distance to place of work (workplace population)

	All persons	Works mainly at or from home	No fixed place of work	Less than 2km	2km to less than 5km	5km to less than 10km	10km to less than 20km	20km to less than 40km	20km to less than 40km	60km and over	Lives within UK
All persons	675921	60404	33581	140739	120151	110637	113431	67691	17315	10675	1297
White	671215	59946	33477	139319	119222	110012	112862	67691	17215	10609	1196
Mixed	831	53	30	229	59	110	132	68	24	5	11
Asian	1187	89	38	328	246	156	124	101	28	2	55
Black	484	29	14	154	91	59	48	46	12	7	24
Chinese and other	2204	287	22	709	433	300	265	119	36	22	11

In this table, the workplace population in an area does not include those persons working in the area who live outside the UK. 'In employment' includes economically active full-time students in employment. 'Works elsewhere outside the UK' includes working at an offshore installation. The distance to place of work is a calculation of the straight line distance between the postcode of place of residence and postcode of workplace. For full-time students their place of residence is their term-time address and their distance to place of work is based on this address. When a full-time student spends part of the week at their 'home' or 'vacation' address, their place of work may be closer to this address and the actual distance traveled to work may be much less. [7]

1.5 England

England is the largest and most populous constituent country of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total population of the United Kingdom. People from minority ethnic groups were more likely to live in England than in the rest of the United Kingdom. They made up 9 per cent of the population of England in 2001 compared with 2 per cent of the population of both Wales and Scotland and 1 per cent of the population of Northern Ireland. Nearly half (45 per cent) of the total minority ethnic population live in London. [8 p. 25]

1.5.1 East of England

Overall, in terms of its ethnic diversity, the East of England region falls slightly below the average for the country as a whole.

Out of every 1,000 people, on average: 914 are White British; 37 are White non-British; 23 are Asian; 11 are of mixed race; 9 are Black; 4 are Chinese.

In 2001, 6.1% of people living in the East Midlands were born abroad, up from 5.1% in 1991. Only one ethnic group - White British, at 91% - is represented here at a proportion greater than the national average, and its share of Asian residents is among the lowest of the nine English regions.

According to the 2001 census, the East of England is home to 5.4 million people, ranking it fourth on the list of England's most populous regions.

Geographically speaking, it is the second largest English region, covering an area of 19,120 square kilometers. It has a population density of 282 people per square kilometer. The whole population: 5,388,140. [5]

Table 1.5 Ethnic groups in East of England

Ethnic group/sub-group	Population	Proportion compared to national average%
White		5,125,003	95.1; 90.9
	British	4,927,343	91.4; 86.9
	Irish	61,208	1.13; 1.27
	Other	136,452	2.53; 2.66
Mixed		57,984	1.07; 1.30
	White and Black Caribbean	19,882	0.36; 0.47%
	White and Black African	6,109	0.11; 0.15
	White and Asian	17,385	0.32; 0.37
	Other mixed	14,608	0.27; 0.30
Asian		121,752	2.25; 4.57
	Indian	51,035	0.94; 2.09
	Pakistani	38,790	0.71; 1.43
	Bangladeshi	18,503	0.34; 0.56
	Other Asian	13,424	0.24; 0.48
Black		48,464	0.89; 2.30
	Caribbean	26,199	0.48; 1.14
	African	16,968	0.31; 0.96
	Other Black	5,297	0.09; 0.19
Chinese		20,385	0.37; 0.44
Other		14,552	0.27; 0.43

Asians are not, however, the largest ethnic minority group in the region. That distinction goes to the White Other group, which, at 136,000 people, accounts for 2.5% of the population of the East of England. There are three significant reasons for this. The first is the large number of US - and German-born military personnel serving in the area - nearly 65,000 American and German citizens lived in the area at the time of the 2001 census, the vast majority of whom would have described themselves as being of White Other ethnic origin. Second, the region attracts a large number of overseas students, as it contains some of Britain's largest universities, including Cambridge, where people from the White Other group make up nearly 10% of all residents. Third, this region has been one of the leading destinations for non-EU [6]

1.5.2 East Midlands

Nine percent of people living in the East Midlands region at the time of the 2001 Census were from ethnic minority backgrounds. Of the eight other English regions, only London and the West Midlands had a higher proportion of non-White British residents. [5]

Table 1.6 Ethnic groups in East Midlands

Ethnic group/sub-group	Population	Proportion compared to national average%
White		3,900,380	93.4; 90.9
	British	3,807,731	91.2; 86.9
	Irish	35,478	0.85; 1.27
	Other	57,171	1.37; 2.66
Mixed		43,141	1.03; 1.30
	White and Black Caribbean	20,658	0.49; 0.47
	White and Black African	3,426	0.08; 0.15
	White and Asian	11,176	0.26; 0.37
	Other mixed	7,881	0.18; 0.30
Asian		168,913	4.04; 4.57
	Indian	122,346	2.93; 2.09
	Pakistani	27,829	0.66; 1.43
	Bangladeshi	6,923	0.16; 0.56
	Other Asian	11,815	0.28; 0.48
Black		39,477	0.94; 2.30
	Caribbean	26,684	0.63; 1.14
	African	9,165	0.21; 0.96
	Other Black	3,628	0.08; 0.19
Chinese		12,910	0.30; 0.44
Other		7,353	0.17; 0.43

Leicester is widely predicted, within the next five years, to become the first city in Europe with a majority non-white population. Only 60.5% of its residents ticked the 'White British' box on the 2001 census form.

Asian people form by far the largest ethnic minority group in the East Midlands. Their numbers are roughly equal to the combined total of all other minority groups in the region.

This is largely due to the 'Leicester effect' - this city alone accounts for half of all Asians living in the region, including 60% of all people of Indian origin. Not all Asian sub-groups are as well represented though - there are proportionally fewer Bangladeshis (less than 0.2% of the population) living here than in all but one of the other eight English regions.

People from the White Other category make up the second largest ethnic minority group in the East Midlands, numbering 57,000, or 1.4% of the population. This is about average for the nine English regions.

Although black people make up less than 1% of the region's population, this is nonetheless one of the highest proportions outside London; only the neighboring West Midlands region has a greater percentage of black residents within its population outside the capital. Of the nearly 40,000 black people living here, more than 60% are of Caribbean descent. [6]

1.5.3 West Midlands

The West Midlands is by far the most ethnically diverse English region outside London, according to the 2001 census data. Nearly one in seven of its population (13.9%) are from ethnic groups other than White British.

Out of every 1,000 people, on average: 861 are White British; 73 are Asian; 26 are White non-British; 20 are Black; 14 are of mixed race; 3 are Chinese.

In 2001, 6.5% of people living in the West Midlands were born abroad, up from 5.3% in 1991.

Nearly 5.3 million people lived in the region at the time of the last census. It covers a geographical area of 13,004 square kilometers, and has a population density of 405 people per square kilometers.

The West Midlands is the only English region, apart from London, where the proportion of residents from the White British group falls below the national average of 87%. Birmingham, England's second largest city and the main population centre in the West Midlands, is second only to the capital in terms of its ethnic diversity. With nearly 200,000 Asian and 60,000 black residents, Birmingham is home to more people from these groups than most entire regions of England (excluding London, only the Yorkshire and The Humber region has more Asian residents, and none has more black residents).The whole population: 5,267,308. [5]

Table 1.7 Ethnic groups in West Midlands

Ethnic group/sub-group	Population	Proportion compared to national average%
White		4,674,296	88.7; 90.9
	British	4,537,892	86.1; 86.9
	Irish	73,136	1.38; 1.27
	Other	63,268	1.20; 2.66
Mixed		73,225	1.39; 1.30
	White and Black Caribbean	39,782	0.75; 0.47
	White and Black African	3,683	0.06; 0.15
	White and Asian	18,160	0.34; 0.37
	Other mixed	11,600	0.22; 0.30
Asian		385,573	7.32; 4.57
	Indian	178,691	3.39; 2.09
	Pakistani	154,550	2.93; 1.43
	Bangladeshi	31,401	0.59; 0.56
	Other Asian	20,931	0.39; 0.48
Black		104,032	1.97; 2.30
	Caribbean	82,282	1.56; 1.14
	African	11,985	0.22; 0.96
	Other Black	9,765	0.18; 0.19
Chinese		16,099	0.30; 0.44
Other		14,083	0.26; 0.43

There are nearly 400,000 people of south Asian origin living in the West Midlands (7.3% of all residents). The region is home to one in six of all Asians in Britain. Aside from Birmingham, where 20% of the population is Asian, there are also very large Asian communities in Wolver Hampton, where people from this group form 14% of the local population, and in Coventry (11%). There are more Pakistanis living in the West Midlands - 155,000 - than in any other English region, London included.

Almost a third of all Sikhs in Britain live in the West Midlands; nearly 14,000 live in Coventry alone, where they form nearly 5% of the city's population.

Across the entire region, the population is split fairly evenly between Indians and Pakistanis; at town and city level, though, the tendency is for one group to predominate over the other. In Birmingham, for example, the ratio of Pakistanis to Indians is two to one, while in Wolver Hampton there are ten times as many Indians as Pakistanis.

In terms of its black population, the West Midlands is also second only to London, both numerically (104,000 people) and as a proportion of all residents (2%). The latter figure is nearly twice that of the next region in the list, the South East.

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

Ethnic group/sub-group	Population	Proportion compared to national average%
White		5,103,203	71.1; 90.9
	British	4,287,861	59.7; 86.9
	Irish	220,488	3.07; 1.27
	Other	594,854	8.29; 2.6
Mixed		226,111	3.15; 1.30
	White and Black Caribbean	70,928	0.98; 0.47
	White and Black African	34,182	0.47; 0.15
	White and Asian	59,984	0.83; 0.37
	Other mixed	61,057	0.85; 0.30
Asian		866,693	12.0; 4.57
	Indian	436,993	6.09; 2.09
	Pakistani	142,749	1.99; 1.43
	Bangladeshi	153,893	2.14; 0.56
	Other Asian	133,058	1.85; 0.48
Black		782,849	10.9; 2.30
	Caribbean	343,567	4.79; 1.14
	African	378,933	5.28; 0.96
	Other Black	60,349	0.84; 0.19
Chinese		80,201	1.11; 0.44
Other		113,034	1.57; 0.43

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

Ethnic group/sub-group	Population	Proportion compared to national average%
White		2,455,416	97.6; 90.9
	British	2,425,592	96.4; 86.9
	Irish	8,682	0.34; 1.27
	Other	21,142	0.84; 2.66
Mixed		12,228	0.48; 1.30
	White and Black Caribbean	2,783	0.11; 0.47
	White and Black African	1,741	0.06; 0.15
	White and Asian	4,733	0.18; 0.37
	Other mixed	2,971	0.11; 0.30
Asian		33,582	1.33; 4.57
	Indian	10,156	0.40; 2.09
	Pakistani	14,074	0.55; 1.43
	Bangladeshi	6,167	0.24; 0.56
	Other Asian	3,185	0.12; 0.48
Black		3,953	0.15; 2.30
	Caribbean	927	0.03; 1.14
	African	2,597	0.10; 0.96
	Other Black	497	0.01; 0.19
Chinese		6,048	0.24; 0.44
Other		4,215	0.16; 0.43

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

Ethnic group/sub-group	Population	Proportion compared to national average%
White		6,355,495	94.4; 90.9
	British	6,203,043	92.1; 86.9
	Irish	77,499	1.15; 1.27
	Other	74,953	1.11; 2.66
Mixed		62,539	0.92; 1.30
	White and Black Caribbean	22,119	0.32; 0.47
	White and Black African	9,853	0.14; 0.15
	White and Asian	17,223	0.25; 0.37
	Other mixed	13,344	0.19; 0.30
Asian		229,875	3.41; 4.57
	Indian	72,219	1.07; 2.09
	Pakistani	116,968	1.73; 1.43
	Bangladeshi	26,003	0.38; 0.56
	Other Asian	14,685	0.21; 0.48
Black		41,637	0.61; 2.30
	Caribbean	20,422	0.30; 1.14
	African	15,912	0.23; 0.96
	Other Black	5,303	0.07; 0.19
Chinese		26,887	0.39; 0.44
Other		13,331	0.19; 0.43

The North West also ranks third among English regions in the size its Irish population. According to 2001 census figures, nearly 80,000 Irish people live in the region.

Paradoxically, the city which is best-known for its historically large number of Irish residents, Liverpool, actually lags slightly behind the national average in terms of its proportionate share of this group. This is surprising, as in 1861 a quarter of Liverpool's population was Irish-born, and the city is geographically closer to the Irish mainland than any other English city. In this case, however, the bare statistics from the Census are likely to be misleading, as recent research by the Office for National Statistics suggests that many people of Irish origin (but not birth) tended to identify themselves as White British rather than White Irish on census forms; in other words, they tend to 'lose' their parent's ethnic identity much more quickly than people from other (non-white) ethnic groups, such as south Asians.

As in most regions outside London and the West Midlands, black people form a very small minority in the North West: less than one per cent of all residents, or just over 40,000 people.

Nearly half of them (18,000) live in Manchester, which is the only town or city in the region to have a proportion of black residents (4.5%) higher than the national average (2.3%). There are more Black Caribbean's than Black Africans living in the region, by a ratio of about three to two. [6]

1.5.7 South West England

The South West is one of the least ethnically diverse of the nine English regions. Only the North East has a greater proportion of White British residents than the 95.3% in the South West.

Out of every 1,000 people, on average: 953 are White British; 24 are White non-British; 8 are Asian; 7 people are mixed race; 4 people are Black; 3 people are Chinese. According to the 2001 census, 4.4% of the South West's population were born abroad. Although low by national standards, this nonetheless represented an increase of 34% compared to the census in 1991, when only 3.5% were foreign-born.

The South West region had a total population of 4.9 million, according to the 2001 census. It covers an area of 23,829 square kilometers, making it the largest of England's nine regions. It is also the most sparsely populated, with an average of just 207 people living on each square kilometer of land.

Because the South West is a largely rural area, its ethnic minority population does not generally consist of geographically clustered communities, as is typical in many urban areas and some other rural regions. Instead, they are characterized by a wide diversity of rural dwellers living as individuals and families, not usually as communities. This has meant that many people from ethnic minorities living in the South West, especially rural Devon and Cornwall, are not present in numbers large enough to support the local provision of culturally specific goods and services, such as halal or kosher food, for example. The whole population: 4,928,434. [5]

Table 1.11 Ethnic groups in South West England

Ethnic group/sub-group	Population	Proportion compared to national average
White		4,815,316	97.7; 90.9
	British	4,701,602	95.3; 86.9
	Irish	32,484	0.65; 1.27
	Other	81,230	1.64; 2.66
Mixed		37,371	0.75; 1.30
	White and Black Caribbean	13,343	0.27; 0.47
	White and Black African	3,917	0.07; 0.15
	White and Asian	11,198	0.22; 0.37
	Other mixed	8,913	0.18; 0.30
Asian		32,800	0.66; 4.57
	Indian	16,394	0.33; 2.09
	Pakistani	6,729	0.13; 1.43
	Bangladeshi	4,816	0.09; 0.56
	Other Asian	4,861	0.09; 0.48
Black		20,920	0.42; 2.30
	Caribbean	12,405	0.25; 1.14
	African	6,171	0.12; 0.96
	Other Black	2,344	0.04; 0.19
Chinese		12,722	0.25; 0.44
Other		9,305	0.18; 0.43

Bristol's St Paul's district has, for many years, been the centre for the Black Caribbean community in the city - nearly one in 10 residents here are black - although people from ethnic minorities tend to be less concentrated here than in other large cities elsewhere in England. More than 81,000 people, or 1.6% of the population, indicated this as their ethnic origin in the 2001 census. Just three other regions in England - London, the South East, and the East of England - have higher proportions of this group.

The next most populous group is made up of people in the mixed category. The South West is the only English region where this group is proportionally better represented than black and Asian people, although in numerical terms the mixed population here is smaller than that of any other region apart from the North East. One reason for this is the large mixed populations in Bristol and Gloucester - more than 2% of both cities' residents - which skews the overall proportion somewhat.

Only the North East has proportionally fewer black residents. In the South West, the Black group makes up just 0.4% of the population. The difference compared to the national average is less marked for black people than Asians, however, because every region in England - apart from London and the West Midlands - has a black population that makes up less than 1% of all residents. [6]

1.5.8 South East England

The South East is the third most ethnically diverse of the nine regions that make up England. Nine per cent of people living here are from ethnic minority groups, but this figure still lags a long way behind that of London (40%) and the West Midlands (14%).Out of every 1,000 people, on average: 913 are White British; 38 are White non-British; 23 are Asian; 11 people are of mixed race; 7 people are Black; 4 people are Chinese. More people live in the South East - a fraction over 8 million - than any English region. In geographic terms, it is the third largest, covering an area of 19,096 square kilometers, and has a population density of 419 people per square kilometer. The towns and cities that are geographically closest to London - such as Reading and Slough - tend to have much greater proportions of ethnic minority residents. For example, Slough has an even smaller proportion of residents from the White British group than London (58% against 60%), while in Dover and Portsmouth, the figure increases to 96% and 92% respectively.