Ethnic groups in the United Kingdom
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
People from various ethnic groups reside in the United Kingdom. For most of the last millennium, the lands now constituting the United Kingdom were largely inhabited by indigenous peoples. Since World War II, however, substantial immigration from the New Commonwealth and European countries has considerably altered the demographic make-up of many cities in the United Kingdom.
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[edit] Indigenous population
- Further information: Prehistoric settlement of Great Britain and Ireland, White British, English people, Irish people, Scottish people, and Welsh people
[edit] Newer ethnic groups
In recent years there has been massive and sustained immigration into the United Kingdom from all sections of the globe.[1][2] This has created an exceptionally ethnically diverse population and it is likely that almost every major ethnic group in the world is present in the UK. London is often cited as the most ethnically diverse city in the world.[3]
Although British Citizens born in the Empire were always able to settle in the UK, there was marked increase after Second World War. The ship "Empire Windrush" is often credited as the first ship to arrive bringing immigrants from the UK's colonies in the Caribbean in the 1948, and is sometimes seen as a symbol of this post-war migration.
[edit] Western Europeans
[edit] Irish
From the independence of the Republic of Ireland in 1922 until 1949 citizens of that country retained their status as British subjects and also legal right to settle in the United Kingdom. From 1949 onwards they have had to meet the same criteria as other nationalities to settle in the United Kingdom (see British nationality law and the Republic of Ireland) and hundreds of thousands have done so. In 2001 790,000 people were born in Ireland, although there are thought to be millions more 2nd, 3rd and 4th generations. The Irish are the largest white minority in the United Kingdom. The major areas of settlement for the Irish population are Liverpool, Manchester, London and Birmingham.
[edit] Italians
Although Italians have had a presence in the UK for centuries, it was only after the Second World War that there was a large influx to the country. Many came for work, for study or when situations of political and economic turmoil back home forced them to leave. Many headed to the UK as an alternative to the US. They have left their mark on British life mainly through their food where Italian restaurants, bars & cafes are now commonplace. In the UK, British Italians are popularly known as "Britalians", a term coined by the UK-based Italian chef Antonio Carluccio.
Currently, the Italian official records report around 175,000 Italians living in the UK (115,000 in the area served by the Italian Consulate General of London alone), but these figures are to be taken as a low estimate (not everyone register with the consulates, especially the short term or temporary residents), as well as those of Italian heritage.
[edit] French
[edit] German
[edit] Portuguese
[edit] Spanish
[edit] Scandinavian
[edit] Swiss
[edit] Dutch
[edit] Greeks & Greek Cypriots
- and
Since it got its independence from the United Kingdom in 1960, Cyprus has seen many of its citizens emigrate to the United Kingdom for economical reasons and in search of a better life. The first influx of Cypriot immigrants to London and other UK cities was in the 1960s, and then, after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, an estimated 20,000 Greek-Cypriots fled to the UK. There are more than one hundred Greek communities in the United Kingdom, with around 150-180,000 Greek speakers in London alone. 85% of these speakers come from Cyprus, not Greece itself.
[edit] Armenian
[edit] Other
Austrians, Belgians, Dutch and many more.
[edit] Eastern Europeans
[edit] Bulgarians
[edit] Czechs
[edit] Hungarians
[edit] Poles
See also: Polish British
In the immediate post war period the Poles who had fought on from bases in the United Kingdom following their defeat by the Germans, were urged to return home by the British Government. Only about half of them did so, however, with the remainder (of about 250,000 people) staying on to form the United Kingdom’s Polish community. The Polish Resettlement Corps (1947-49) eased the transition from military to civilian life for the ex-soldiers and numerous dependants.
In the period 1991-2001, the number of Poles legally in the United Kingdom declined, but since Polish accession to the EU in 2004 this trend has reversed and figures from the Home Office reveal that 264,560 Poles registered to work in the United Kingdom between 2004 and 2006, but actual numbers are much higher. The majority of these new Polish migrants to the United Kingdom are of working age (82 per cent aged between 16 and 34).
[edit] Baltic States
[edit] Former Yugoslavs
[edit] Kosovars
[edit] Russians
[edit] Ukrainians
[edit] Georgians
[edit] Romanians
[edit] Turks & Turkish Cypriots
- and Cypriot British
The first Turks to arrive in the United Kingdom were the Turkish Cypriots who were Commonwealth citizens as Cyprus was a British colony until 1960. Some Turkish Cypriots came from the 1930s to find employment, others joined later to escape the tensions between Turkish and Greek Cypriots which resulted in the Turkish occupation of the north of the island in 1974.
Many Turkish people sought refuge in the United Kingdom in the 1950s and 1960s, and the number of Turkish immigrants has continued to increase. Many came from Cyprus during the actions of EOKA and Enosis.
The most recent influx started soon after the military coup on the Turkish mainland by General Kenan Evren in 1980. The harsh repression that followed forced many people out of the country. Poets, artists, intellectuals, journalists, political opponents of the regime, but also simple people and a large proportion of Turkish Kurds. Even now, Kurds still leave Turkey and seek refuge in other countries, such as the United Kingdom.
[edit] Black British
[edit] Caribbeans
These originated mostly in several of the former British colonies in the Caribbean. The largest proportion of the Black Caribbean population in the UK are of Jamaican origin; others trace origins to smaller nations including Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Barbados, Saint Lucia, Grenada, Montserrat, Dominica, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Guyana. Black-Caribbean communities exist throughout the United Kingdom, though by far the largest concentrations are in London, Birmingham and the broader West Midlands conurbation. Significant communities also exist in other population centres, notably Manchester, Nottingham, Leicester, Bristol, Leeds, Sheffield, Liverpool and Cardiff. Around half of the British Caribbean community originate from Jamaica. In 2001 the Black Caribbean community numbered 565,876 and the total Black population was 1.2 million or 2.2% of the population.
See also
- Barbadian British
- Guyanese British
- Jamaican British
- Saint Lucian British
- Grenadian British
- Montserratian British
- Trinidadian British
[edit] Africans
[edit] West Africans
Many people from Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cape Verde and Cameroon continue to migrate as professional workers or students.
[edit] South Africans
Zimbabweans, South Africans, Zambians, Angolans, Mozambicans, Mauritians, Seychellois
[edit] East Africans
[edit] Horn Africans
[edit] North Africans
Algerians, Moroccans, Tunisians, Egyptians
[edit] South Asians
These comprise Indians (originating primarily from Punjab and Gujarat), Pakistanis (originating primarily from Kashmir and Punjab), Bangladeshis (originating primarily from Sylhet), and a small number of Sri Lankans. They numbered 2,331,423 in the 2001 Census. This further subdivided to 1,053,411 of Indian origin, 747,285 of Pakistani origin, 283,063 of Bangladeshi origin, and 247,664 from other Asian origins. 2004 estimates show that the British Asian community is 2,799,700 including people of mixed White British and Asian British descent. There are Asians present in most towns and cities in the United Kingdom. The largest concentrations of Indians are to be found in west London, Leicester and the West Midlands. The largest Bangladeshi community is in east London. Pakistanis are more evenly spread through the country, with large concentrations in Birmingham, Lancashire, Yorkshire and Greater Manchester.
[edit] Indian
[edit] Pakistani
[edit] Bangladeshi
[edit] Tamil
[edit] Orientals
[edit] Chinese
British Chinese are predominately from southern Chinese origin, in particular from Hong Kong. The first significant immigration began during the 1950s and 1960s, followed by a further wave in the early 1980s and another in the mid-1990s prior to Hong Kong being incorporated into the Peoples Republic of China. In 2001 they numbered 247,403. Many students of Chinese origin study in the United Kingdom and since 2001 a substantial portion have chosen to remain, increasing their numbers further. In contrast to the largely southern Chinese community living in the United Kingdom, newer arrivals tend to come from all across China. The Chinese are the fastest growing non-European ethnic group in the United Kingdom, growing at 11% per annum between 2001-2003. This growth comes almost exclusively from immigration.
[edit] Filipino
See also: Filipino British
[edit] Japanese
[edit] Koreans
Since immigration restrictions were relaxed in 1989, the United Kingdom's Korean population has grown rapidly. In 2005, South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade estimated there were 40,810 Koreans in the United Kingdom, making them the ninth-largest population of overseas Koreans.
[edit] Malaysian
[edit] Singaporean
[edit] Thai
[edit] Burmese
See also: Burmese British
[edit] Arabs
Arabs number over 1 million in the United Kingdom, and are a rapidly growing ethnic group, this ethnic group can be split up further.
[edit] Assyrian
[edit] Yemeni
[edit] Other
Lebanese, Palestinians, Saudis, Syrians, Jordanians, Egyptians, Algerians, Moroccans
[edit] Iranians
[edit] Kurds
[edit] Latin Americans
[edit] Brazilians
[edit] Colombians
[edit] Ecuadorians
[edit] Argentines
[edit] Chilean
[edit] Cuban
[edit] Mexican
[edit] Peruvian
[edit] Venezuelan
[edit] Other
Puerto Ricans, Belizeans and more.
[edit] Mixed
See also: British Mixed-Race
After the Second World War, the first established 'mixed communities' migrated to the UK, principally the Anglo-Indian and Anglo-Burmese communities, from India and Burma. They are now established and integrated communities within the UK. Over more recent years there has been substantial and increasing miscegenation between the various groups, resulting in a new group - Mixed. This group is relatively heterogeneous with Mixed - Afro Caribbean/White British being the biggest single component. The Mixed group has the youngest demographic profile of any group, with half being under 16, and numbered 677,117 at the 2001 Census. Due to rapid growth the Mixed group is predicted to become the largest ethnic minority group by 2020.
[edit] The Jews
- Further information: British Jews, History of the Jews in England
The first Jews arrived in England in 1070 from Rouen following the Norman Invasion. There is mention of them in the Domesday Book. They were expelled in 1290 under the edict of expulsion but a small number returned from 1656 onwards. The vast majority of today’s Jewish community, however, descend from Jews who arrived from Eastern Europe in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.[4] It is hard to discern the number of ethnic Jews in the United Kingdom as they are classified as white on census forms. In 2001 however there were 267,373 practitioners of Judaism in the United Kingdom.
[edit] The Romnichal
The Romanichal, for whom the term "Gypsies" is now considered pejorative, also reside in the United Kingdom.
- Other countries - Australians, New Zealanders, Pacific Islanders, Americans and Canadians
[edit] North American
[edit] General Information
- The Montserratian British community outnumbers the actual population of Montserrat by about six to one
- The Pakistani British community is the second largest Pakistani overseas community on the planet
- The Cypriot British community is the largest overseas Cypriot community on earth, it is over half the size of the almost one million strong population of Cyprus
- There are more ethnically Irish people in the UK than there are on the island of Ireland in total
- Indian British people make up the country's single largest ethnic minority group, which is also the West's second largest Indian community
- The Nigerian British community is the largest overseas Nigerian community on the planet, and three times larger than its closest rival
- The Brazilian British community increases in size by around 22 people every day, and sits firm as the world's fourth largest overseas Brazilian community
- Many communities such as the French British, German British, Italian British and Spanish British ones have inhabited the United Kingdom for millennia, and it is impossible to tell how many people have partial ancestry, although it is thought to be in the millions for many
[edit] Demographic transition
The period from 1948 has seen a dramatic change in the ethnic make-up of the United Kingdom. Non-Whites have grown from tens of thousands in 1951 to 4,600,000 in 2001. The total number of ethnic minorities (including whites from ethnic minority groups) in 2001 was 6,751,689.
[edit] Multiculturalism and integration
Beginning during the postwar immigration boom, United Kingdom has gradually developed a robust policy of multiculturalism. The rapidity of ethnic transition in the United Kingdom has caused much discussion about the policies that have developed under the rubric of multiculturalism. Critics believe policies that stress integration between groups are more appropriate. They point to the differing successes and relative failures of various groups in the United Kingdom to integrate with one another and British society.[5][6][7][8]
In 2005 the Commission for Racial Equality published a report entitled Citizenship and Belonging : What is Britishness?, to examine the way in which British people of different ethnic backgrounds thought about Britishness. The Commission reported that:
“As White people involved in the study were asked to talk about Britishness, many immediately and spontaneously changed the topic of discussion slightly talking instead about a perceived decline in Britishness. This happened in all focus groups with White people. They attributed the decline to four main causes: the arrival of large numbers of migrants; the ‘unfair’ claims made by people from ethnic minorities on the welfare state; the rise in moral pluralism; and the failure to manage ethnic minority groups properly, due to what participants called political correctness.”
And that: “Most White participants were distressed by this perceived decline in Britishness. They felt victimised and frustrated and many anticipated that social unrest would become inevitable.”[9]
[edit] Race riots
Since the beginning of mass immigration there have been a number of race riots, the most prominent being:
-
- 1958 - London - Notting Hill race riots
- 1981 - London - Brixton riot (1981)
- 1981 & 1987 - Leeds - Chapeltown Riots
- 1981 - Liverpool - Toxteth Riots
- 1981 & 1985 - Birmingham - Handsworth Riots
- 1981 - Manchester - Moss Side
- 1985 -London - Brixton riot (1985)
- 1985 -London - Broadwater Farm riot
- 1995 - Bradford - Manningham Riot
- 1995 - London - Brixton riot (1995)
- 2001 - Bradford - Bradford Riot
- 2001 - Burnley - Burnley Riots
- 2001 - Oldham - Oldham Riots
- 2004 - Peterborough - Peterborough Riots
- 2005 - Birmingham - 2005 Birmingham Riot
[edit] 2001 Census
According to the 2001 Census, the ethnic composition of the United Kingdom was:
| Ethnic group | Population | % of total* |
|---|---|---|
| White British | 50,366,497 | 85.7% |
| White Irish | 691,232 | 1.2% |
| White (other) | 3,096,169 | 5.3% |
| Mixed race | 677,117 | 1.2% |
| Indian | 1,053,411 | 1.8% |
| Pakistani | 747,285 | 1.3% |
| Bangladeshi | 283,063 | 0.5% |
| Other Asian (non-Chinese) | 247,644 | 0.4% |
| Black Caribbean | 565,876 | 1.0% |
| Black African | 485,277 | 0.8% |
| Black (others) | 97,585 | 0.2% |
| Chinese | 247,403 | 0.4% |
| Other | 230,615 | 0.4% |
| * Percentage of total UK population | ||
[edit] Census forms
There have been recent calls for the 2011 national census to include extra tickboxes in Category "A" (in addition to the current tick boxes for "British", "Irish", or "Any other White background"), as there have been claims of racial discrimination by some Welsh, English, and Cornish people. [10] [11] There was some confusion due to the fact that one first had to deny being British, by crossing out the British option, and then writing "Welsh", "English", or "Cornish" in the "Any other" category. The Office for National Statistics recognises that many people want to distinguish themselves as Welsh, English or Cornish and not just "British" in the 2011 census and is considering adding extra tickboxes for this purpose.[12] [13]
There has also been some concern that a large number of second generation Irish people did not read the instruction to 'indicate your cultural background' and believed that they must answer 'British' (or 'Scottish' in Scotland) rather than 'Irish' because of their birthplace."
[edit] References
- ^ BBC[1]
- ^ BBC [2]
- ^ Guardian [3]
- ^ Norman Davies, The Isles A History 1999 ISBN 0-333-69283-7 'The first major modern influx of foreign immigrants (into the British Isles) was that of the East European Jews in the period 1885-1905. Fleeing the poverty of the pale of Jewish Settlement in the Russian Empire, as well as fear of persecution, Yiddish speaking Jewish immigrants arrived in a sudden uncontrolled flood, quickly transforming the East End of London and similar districts in other major cities into predominantly Jewish districts.....Their numbers - perhaps a hundred thousand - caused the British Government to pass the Aliens Act 1906'. (page 822)
- ^ BBC[4]
- ^ The Times [5]
- ^ BBC [6]
- ^ BBC [7]
- ^ The decline of Britishness: a research study
- ^ Cornish demand 2011 Census tick box
- ^ Mebyon Kernow Support the campaign for a Cornish tick-box
- ^ Cornwall Council data on Cornish identity
- ^ 2011 Census tick-box for "English" and "Welsh" national identity
[edit] See also
- Demographics of the United Kingdom
- Languages of the United Kingdom
- Census 2001 Ethnic Codes
- British people
- Briton
- English people
- Irish people
- Scottish people
- Welsh people
- Cornish people
- Desi
- Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
- Prehistoric settlement of Great Britain and Ireland
- Historical immigration to Great Britain
- Immigration to the United Kingdom (1922-present day)
- White Other (United Kingdom Census)
[edit] External links
- The Office for National Statistics on ethnic group statistics (pdf)
- Commission for Racial Equality
- 2011 Census tick-box for "English" and "Cornish" national identities
- Census chiefs set to record Welsh identity tick box
- Census to gauge national identity
- Born Abroad Census
- BBC United Colours
- Notting Hill Carnival
- Carnaval Del Pueblo, Europe's biggest Latin American festival held in London
- Oktoberfest, the UK's major German cultural festival held in Richmond-upon-Thames, London
- 418,000 write in 'Welsh' on 2001 Census form
- UK's different racial groups
- The United Colours of Britain
- Reassessing what we collect website History of ethnic minority communities in London with objects and images
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