According to the 2021 Census, 81.7% of the population of England and Wales was white, 9.3% Asian, 4.0% black, 2.9% mixed and 2.1% from other ethnic groups.

Dataset population: Persons

Ethnic group

Ethnic group classifies people according to their own perceived ethnic group and cultural background.

This topic contains ethnic group write-in responses without reference to the five broad ethnic group categories, e.g. all Irish people, irrespective of whether they are White, Mixed/multiple ethnic groups, Asian/Asian British, Black/African/Caribbean/Black British or Other ethnic group, are in the "Irish" response category. This topic was created as part of the commissioned table processing.

Religion

This is a person's current religion, or if the person does not have a religion, 'No religion'. No determination is made about whether a person was a practicing member of a religion. Unlike other census questions where missing answers are imputed, this question was voluntary and where no answer was provided, the response is categorised as 'Not stated'.

Between 2023 and 2024, over ******* percent of all those registered with type 2 diabetes in England were Asian or Asian British. This statistic displays the share of individuals registered with diabetes in England in 2023/24, by ethnicity.

This statistic displays the estimated Asian population of the United Kingdom (UK), by region in 2016. London had the highest estimated Asian population of any region, at approximately **** million people, followed by the West Midlands with an estimated Asian population of *** thousand people.

Dataset population: Dependent children

Ethnic group

Ethnic group classifies people according to their own perceived ethnic group and cultural background.

This topic contains ethnic group write-in responses without reference to the five broad ethnic group categories, e.g. all Irish people, irrespective of whether they are White, Mixed/multiple ethnic groups, Asian/Asian British, Black/African/Caribbean/Black British or Other ethnic group, are in the Irish response category. This topic was created as part of the commissioned table processing.

Sex

The classification of a person as either male or female.

Students from the Chinese ethnic group had the highest entry rate into higher education in every year from 2006 to 2024.

In 2011, 87.2 percent of the total population of the United Kingdom were white British. A positive net migration in recent years combined with the resultant international relationships following the wide-reaching former British Empire has contributed to an increasingly diverse population.

Varied ethnic backgrounds

Black British citizens, with African and/or African-Caribbean ancestry, are the largest ethnic minority population, at three percent of the total population. Indian Britons are one of the largest overseas communities of the Indian diaspora and make up 2.3 percent of the total UK population. Pakistani British citizens, who make up almost two percent of the UK population, have one of the highest levels of home ownership in Britain.

Racism in the United Kingdom

Though it has decreased in comparison to the previous century, the UK has seen an increase in racial prejudice during the first decade and a half of this century. Racism and discrimination continues to be part of daily life for Britain’s ethnic minorities, especially in terms of work, housing, and health issues. Moreover, the number of hate crimes motivated by race reported since 2012 has increased, and in 2017/18, there were 3,368 recorded offenses of racially or religiously aggravated assault with injury, almost a thousand more than in 2013/14.

Census 2021 data: 19 tick-box ethnic groups, by age, sex, and age and sex.

In 2019, the Indian and White ethnic groups had the lowest percentage of recent internet users (90.4% and 90.5%). The Chinese group had the highest (98.6%).

These datasets provide a breakdown of ethnic group by age and sex, ethnic group by age and ethnic group by sex

Information from Census 2021 on the sex and age characteristics of ethnic groups and how this has changed since 2011 in England and Wales.

Since 1991, the census for England and Wales has included a question about ethnic group.

In 2021, the ethnic group question had two stages. Firstly, a person identified through one of the following five high-level ethnic groups:

• "Asian, Asian British, Asian Welsh"

• "Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African"

• "Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups"

• "White"

• "Other ethnic group"

Secondly, a person identifies through 1 of the 19 available response options, which include categories with write-in response options.

According to the 2021 Census, London was the most ethnically diverse region in England and Wales – 63.2% of residents identified with an ethnic minority group.

In 2025, roughly *** thousand doctors were registered in the United Kingdom (UK). Of these, around *** thousand were white, while the largest ethnicity of UK doctors other than white was Asian or Asian British. Some *** thousand doctors reported so. This is unsurprising considering the most common foreign country of medical qualification is India, followed by Pakistan. As of 2024, there were more doctors of ethnic minorities than white doctors in the UK.

During a 2023 survey carried out among more than ***** marketers from the United Kingdom, ** percent of respondents identified as white. Second largest group with *** percent were marketers who identified as Asian or Asian British, followed by *** percent of individuals who identified as Black, African Caribbean or Black British. The remaining *** percent identified as mixed raced or belonging to multiple ethnic groups.

Table showing ethnic group statistics by aggregated groupings.

Categories covered:

• White - includes White British, Irish, Gypsy or Irish Traveller, and Other
• Black - includes Black African, Caribbean, and Other
• Asian - includes Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese and Other
• Mixed/Other - includes White and Black Caribbean, White and Asian, White and Black African, Other Mixed, Arab and any Other ethnicity not covered above.

Figures may not add exactly due to rounding. Numbers rounded to the nearest thousand.

Data is from the Annual Population Survey.

A socio-demographic study exploring the UK publishing industry revealed that *** percent of the publishing workforce in 2020 were Asian or Asian British, and ***** percent were Black or Black British. Whilst representation of ethnic minorities in publishing has very marginally increased since 2018, white people still make up the vast majority of employees in the industry.

This dataset represents ethnic group (19 tick-box level) by economic activity status and by occupation, for England and Wales combined. The census data are also broken down by age and by sex for each subtopic.

The ethnic group that the person completing the census feels they belong to. This could be based on their culture, family background, identity, or physical appearance. Respondents could choose one out of 19 tick-box response categories, including write-in response options.

Total counts for some population groups may not match between published tables. This is to protect the confidentiality of individuals' data. Population counts have been rounded to the nearest 5 and any counts below 10 are suppressed, this is signified by a 'c' in the data tables.

This dataset shows population counts for usual residents aged between 16 to 64 years old only. This is to focus on ethnic groups differences among the working age. Population counts in these tables may be different from other publications which use different age breakdowns.

"Asian Welsh" and "Black Welsh" ethnic groups were included on the census questionnaire in Wales only, these categories were new for 2021.

This dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify usual residents in England and Wales by ethnic group. The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021.

For quality information in general, please read more from here.

For specific quality information about labour market, please read more from here

Ocupation counts classifiy people who were in employment between 15 March and 21 March 2021, by the SOC code that represents their current occupation. (Occupation is classified using the Standard Occupation Classification 2020 version). Details of SOC code can be found here.

Ethnic Group (19 tick-box level)

These are the 19 ethnic group used in this dataset:

• Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh
  • Bangladeshi
  • Chinese
  • Indian
  • Pakistani
  • Other Asian
• Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African
  • African
  • Caribbean
  • Other Black
• Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups
  • White and Asian
  • White and Black African
  • White and Black Caribbean
  • Other Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups
• White
  • English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British
  • Gypsy or Irish Traveller
  • Irish
  • Roma
  • Other White
• Other ethnic group
  • Arab
  • Any other ethnic group

This statistic shows the distribution of ethnic groups of Inner London, United Kingdom (UK) at the time of the 2011 National Census. 'White' is the largest group, at 57.2 percent of the population, followed by 'Black / African / Caribbean / Black British,' and Asian / Asian British.'

BackgroundSocio-economic position (SEP) and ethnicity influence type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) risk in adults. However, the influence of SEP on emerging T2DM risks in different ethnic groups and the contribution of SEP to ethnic differences in T2DM risk in young people have been little studied. We examined the relationships between SEP and T2DM risk factors in UK children of South Asian, black African-Caribbean and white European origin, using the official UK National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (NS-SEC) and assessed the extent to which NS-SEC explained ethnic differences in T2DM risk factors. Methods and FindingsCross-sectional school-based study of 4,804 UK children aged 9–10 years, including anthropometry and fasting blood analytes (response rates 70%, 68% and 58% for schools, individuals and blood measurements). Assessment of SEP was based on parental occupation defined using NS-SEC and ethnicity on parental self-report. Associations between NS-SEC and adiposity, insulin resistance (IR) and triglyceride differed between ethnic groups. In white Europeans, lower NS-SEC status was related to higher ponderal index (PI), fat mass index, IR and triglyceride (increases per NS-SEC decrement [95%CI] were 1.71% [0.75, 2.68], 4.32% [1.24, 7.48], 5.69% [2.01, 9.51] and 3.17% [0.96, 5.42], respectively). In black African-Caribbeans, lower NS-SEC was associated with lower PI (−1.12%; [−2.01, −0.21]), IR and triglyceride, while in South Asians there were no consistent associations between NS-SEC and T2DM risk factors. Adjustment for NS-SEC did not appear to explain ethnic differences in T2DM risk factors, which were particularly marked in high NS-SEC groups. ConclusionsSEP is associated with T2DM risk factors in children but patterns of association differ by ethnic groups. Consequently, ethnic differences (which tend to be largest in affluent socio-economic groups) are not explained by NS-SEC. This suggests that strategies aimed at reducing social inequalities in T2DM risk are unlikely to reduce emerging ethnic differences in T2DM risk.

Between 2018 and 2022, people in households in the ‘other’, Asian and black ethnic groups were the most likely to be in persistent low income, both before and after housing costs, out of all ethnic groups.