Page 6 - Race Awareness Pocket Book

The UK Population

The UK population is made up of different ethnicities.

 87% of people are White

 13% belong to a Black, Asian, Mixed or Other ethnic group.

In the context of the UK’s Equality Act 2010, race includes a

person’s skin colour, nationality and ethnic or national

origins. Race and ethnicity are seen more as interchangeable

concepts than distinct categories.

Population of England and Wales

The main facts and figures from the 2011 Census show that:
• the total population of England and Wales was 56.1

million, and 86.0% of the population was White

• people from Asian ethnic groups made up the second

largest percentage of the population (at 7.5%), followed

by Black ethnic groups (at 3.3%), Mixed/Multiple ethnic

groups (at 2.2%) and Other ethnic groups (at 1.0%)

• among the specific ethnic groups, people from the

White British ethnic group made up the largest

percentage of the population (at 80.5%), followed by

Other White (4.4%) and Indian (2.5%)

• from 2001 to 2011, the percentage of the population of

England and Wales that was White British decreased

from 87.4% to 80.5%, while the Other White group saw

the largest increase in their share of the population,

from 2.6% to 4.4%

• the percentage of the population from a Black African

background doubled from 0.9% in 2001 to 1.8% in 2011

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