Eight out of every 10 people in England and Wales identified themselves as 'white' in the 2021 census. Data released today by the Office for National Statistics, showed that 81.7% of people chose the high-level category as part of their ethnicity. That’s down from 86.0% of people when the census was last run in 2011. As part of that group, only 74.4% identified as white British, down from 80.5% in 2011, and 87.5% in 2001.
One reason for this is the increase in the number of people choosing other white backgrounds. 'White: Other White' went from 4.4% in 2011 to 6.2% in 2021. The largest increases were seen in the number of people who identified their ethnic group within the 'Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh' category. It rose from 7.5% (4.2 million people) in 2011, to 9.3% (5.5 million) in 2021. That’s an increase of over 30%.
The 'Other ethnic group' choice rose to 2.1% (1.3 million people) in 2021, up from 1.0% (564,000 people) in 2011. A total of 14 local authorities in England and Wales now have populations where fewer than half of the population chose a white ethnicity:
- Tower Hamlets: 39%
- Slough: 36%
- Redbridge: 35%
- Newham: 31%
- Luton: 45%
- Leicester: 41%
- Hounslow: 44%
- Hillingdon: 48%
- Harrow: 36%
- Ealing: 43%
- Croydon: 48%
- Brent: 35%
- Birmingham; 49%
- Barking and Dagenham: 45%
