According to the 2011 census, 12.8 percent of the population self-identify as ethnic minorities. The census asks respondents to classify themselves according to five broad categories of ethnicity: these include “White,” “mixed/multiple ethnic,” “Asian or Asian British,” “Black/African/Caribbean/Black British,” and “Other.” Finer ethnic or source country distinctions are made consistently across all of the UK areas only within the “Asian” and “Black” categories. The breakdown for the UK is shown in the Table.
Visible minorities are concentrated in England’s cities, above all in London: according to the 2011 census, white Londoners are now a minority: 54 percent of the capital’s population is composed of ethnic minorities; 37 percent of Londoners were born outside the country, up from 27 percent in the previous census in 2001. There are also substantial visible minority concentrations in the West Midlands (including Birmingham) and in West Yorkshire (including Bradford), but these now-de-industrialized regions have been less attractive than the capital to recent immigrants.
Population of the UK by Ethnic Group, 2011
| Total population | Ethnic minority population | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number (in thousands) | % | % | ||
| White | 50,073 | 79.3 | n/a | |
| Mixed / Multiple Ethnic Groups | 1,250 | 2.0 | 15.4 | |
| Asian or Asian British | 4,373 | 6.9 | 53.9 | |
| Indian | 1,452 | 2.3 | 17.9 | |
| Pakistani | 1,175 | 1.9 | 14.5 | |
| Bangladeshi | 452 | 0.7 | 5.6 | |
| Chinese | 433 | 0.7 | 5.3 | |
| Other Asian | 862 | 1.4 | 10.6 | |
| Black/African/Caribbean/Black British | 1,905 | 3.0 | 23.5 | |
| Other Ethnic Group | 580 | 0.9 | 7.2 | |
| All ethnic minority population | 8,109 | 12.8 | 100 | |
| Total population | 63,182 | 100.0 | n/a | |
Source: Office for National Statistics, 2011 Census
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