Ethnic groups in the United Kingdom

This article is about ethnic groups in the United Kingdom regardless of birthplace. For foreign-born groups in the United Kingdom, see Foreign-born population of the United Kingdom.

People from various ethnic groups reside in the United Kingdom. Migration from what are now the Northern European states has been happening for millennia, with other groups such as British Jews also well established. Since World War II, substantial immigration from the New Commonwealth, Europe, and the rest of the world has altered the demography of many cities in the United Kingdom.

History

For the history of immigration to the United Kingdom before 1922, see Historical immigration to Great Britain. For immigration after 1922 see Immigration to the United Kingdom since 1922.

Historically, British people were thought to be descended from the varied ethnic stocks that settled there before the 11th century; the pre-Celts, Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Norse and the Normans. Recent analysis indicates that the majority of the traceable ancestors of the modern British population arrived between 15,000 and 7,500 years ago and that the British broadly share a common ancestry with the Basque people, although there is no consensus amongst geneticists.

Official classification of ethnicity

Main article: Classification of ethnicity in the United Kingdom

The 2001 UK Census classified ethnicity into several groups: White, Black, Asian, Mixed, Chinese and Other. These categories formed the basis for all National Statistics ethnicity statistics until the 2011 Census results were issued.

2011 Census ethnicity results

According to the 2011 Census, and based on figured for England and Wales only as results from Scotland have not been released yet, the ethnic composition of the United Kingdom was:

Ethnic group	Population (,000s)	Proportion of total UK population
White British	43,135	80.5%
White (other)	2,544	4.5%
Indian	1,413	2.5%
Pakistani	1,125	2.0%
Black African	990	1.8%
Other Asian	836	1.5%
Black Caribbean	595	1.1%
White Irish	531	0.9%
Bangladeshi	447	0.8%
Mixed (White and Black Caribbean)	427	0.8%
Chinese	393	0.7%
Mixed (White and Asian)	342	0.6%
Other	333	0.6%
Mixed (other)	290	0.5%
Black (other)	280	0.5%
Arab	231	0.4%
Mixed (White and Black African)	166	0.3%

Note that the term 'Other Asian' includes people from South Asia as well as people form East Asia or Southeast Asia in keeping with UK usage of the word.

Compared to the results of the 2001 census, the UK has become significantly more mixed in the ethnic makeup of its people. The proportion classified as white has fallen from 91% to 86%, with those identifying as White British falling from 87% to 80%. People of mixed ethnicity are the fastest growing of the ethnic groups categorised by the Office for National Statistics rising from 1.2% to 2.2% between 2001 and 2011, although the 2001 census did not subdivide this category.

Multiculturalism and integration

With considerable migration after the Second World War making the UK an increasingly ethnically and racially diverse state, race relations policies have been developed that broadly reflect the principles of multiculturalism, although there is no official national commitment to multiculturalism. This model has faced criticism on the grounds that it has failed to sufficiently promote social integration, although some commentators have questioned the dichotomy between diversity and integration that this critique presumes. It has been argued that the UK government has since 2001, moved away from policy characterised by multiculturalism and towards the assimilation of minority communities.

Attitudes to multiculturalism

See also: Criticism of multiculturalism

A poll conducted by MORI for the BBC in 2005 found that 62 per cent of respondents agreed that multiculturalism made Britain a better place to live, compared to 32 percent who saw it as a threat. Ipsos MORI data from 2008 by contrast, showed that only 30 per cent saw multiculturalism as making Britain a better place to live, with 38 per cent seeing it as a threat. 41 per cent of respondents to the 2008 poll favoured the development of a shared identity over the celebration of diverse values and cultures, with 27 per cent favouring the latter and 30 per cent undecided.

A study conducted for the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) in 2005 found that in England, the majority of ethnic minority participants called themselves British, whereas indigenous English participants said English first and British second. In Wales and Scotland the majority of white and ethnic minority participants said Welsh or Scottish first and British second, although they saw no incompatibility between the two identities. Other research conducted for the CRE found that white participants felt that there was a threat to Britishness from large-scale immigration, the 'unfair' claims that they perceived ethnic minorities made on the welfare state, a rise in moral pluralism and perceived political correctness. Much of this frustration was vented at Muslims rather than minorities in general. Muslim participants in the study reported feeling victimised and stated that they felt that they were being asked to choose between Muslim and British identities, whereas they saw it possible to be both.

See also

• British people
• Accademia Apulia
• Demography of the United Kingdom
• Foreign-born population of the United Kingdom
• Historical immigration to Great Britain
• Immigration to the United Kingdom since 1922
• Languages of the United Kingdom
• Lists of UK locations with large ethnic minority populations
• Prehistoric settlement of the British Isles