Ethnic Diversity in Britain

Ethnic Diversity in Britain

Гомель 2007

Introduction

The aim of this work is to find more facts about the country concerned, to work with further sources in order to learn deeper information about the population of Great Britain, to show the contemporary information of today's population of Great Britain.

The work is divided in three chapters. The first «U.K. Ethnic Groups» includes information about the ethnic population of the Great Britain. It is also the biggest part. According to the size of the chapter it is seen that the highest degree of attention is given to this one. It is so because this chapter contains the most important and full information about ethnic groups in the U.K. The chapter is divided in five parts according to the region. Each part contains particular information about the population in this very region and figures reflecting the numbers of minorities. Also it is important to give information about the native inhabitants of Great Britain.

The second chapter shows information about the population of Great Britain in general. It contains some separated parts. The fourth part includes the detailed data of the variety of the communities, the people, the origins and way of life.

The information of the third chapter is the most up-to-date. It reflects the modern situation of the population. It shows the main problems of today's Britain, such as overpopulation, and gives some reasons for that.

For millions of people all over the world, Britain is the land of tradition, the Royal Family, Beefeaters, Bobbies on the beat and, above all, white people. In much of middle America, it comes as a shock for them to hear that there any black people in Britain at all. But even if people can get their head around the idea that an Afro-American might be British, the notion that he could be an MP often perplexes them.

An MP Surely, one can see their eyes say, a British MP must be white. There are many lifetimes of war, conquest, history, literature, culture and myth behind the idea that Britain is a racially pure society. And in the study of history, myth is just as important as reality. But the racial purity of the British has always been a myth.

From the days when the Norman French invaded Anglo-Saxon Britain, the British have been a culturally diverse nation. But because the different nationalities shared a common skin colour, it was possible to ignore the racial diversity, which always existed in the British Isles. And even if one takes race to mean what it is often commonly meant to imply - skin colour - there have been black people in Britain for centuries. The earliest blacks in Britain were probably black Roman centurions that came over hundreds of years before Christ. But even in Elizabethan times, there were numbers of blacks in Britain. So much so that Elizabeth I issued a proclamation complaining about them. Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth century, black people make fleeting appearances in the political and cultural narrative of the British Isles. Black people can be seen as servants in the prints of Hogarth. In Thackeray's «Vanity Fair», Ms Schwartz, the West Indian heiress is obviously supposed to be of mixed race. She is gently mocked but her colour is not otherwise remarked on.

Britain has always been a multi-racial society. What is new is the visibility of its racial diversity. And what is newer still is a willingness to accept that all the races can have parity of esteem. For a long time, even when it was acknowledged that there were people of different racial origin within the British Isles, there was an assumption that the white race and culture was, and should, be dominant.

Racial stereotyping echoes through British literature and culture almost to the present day. And for some time, assumptions of racial inferiority coloured mainstream British perception of non-white culture and art. The Notting Hill Street Carnival is the biggest street festival and a miracle of creativity with costumes that take months to sew and wonderful music and dance. But it is only recently that mainstream press has reported it as anything other than a law and order issue.

However, in recent years, people have begun to acknowledge the presence of non-white people in Britain in a positive way. And even to talk about Britain as a multi-racial Society. Although there are some people who would resist this description and pretend Britain's continuing ethnic diversity doesn't exit and insist on Britain being described as a European or white country. But although the phrase multi-racial society is used quite frequently, a genuinely multi-racial society with genuine parity of esteem is quite difficult to achieve. The Caribbean is often cited as a part of the world where you can find multi-racialism in action. The national motto of Jamaica for instance is «Out of Many, One People». However, it is noticeable that even in these supposed bastions of harmonious multi-racialism, tensions have arisen between different races. In Trinidad, for instance, the archetypal multi-racial island in the sun, there is bitter rivalry between the Asian and African-Caribbean community. The issue is equality. Where one ethnic group is demonstrably subordinate to another, it is idle to talk about multi-racialism because in reality one culture is dominant. Furthermore, the political attractions of playing the race card are often irresistible, multi-racialism just doesn't have the same visceral appeal to popular sentiment. But multi-racialism is a tricky balance to achieve. On the one hand, there has to be a measure of economic equality and genuine parity of esteem. But on the other, it should not mean obliterating differences or pretending differences do not exist. Britain would be the poorer without its different races and their different cultural traditions. But it would also be a mistake to try and iron out these differences in the name of multi-racialism. Of course, a vexed question is of the relative merit of different cultures and cultural traditions. It is very difficult in these cases to distinguish where objective judgement starts and prejudice begins. In European societies, the bias tends to be that European culture and tradition are necessarily superior. But in the words of the American blues songs «It ain't necessarily so.»

There is no doubt the history of twentieth century popular music is very much the history of African music as it has been mediated through North America. There is almost no sort of pop music that doesn't owe something to black American influence. And in art, the influence of African art has long been acknowledged on modern abstract painters like Picasso. More recently, the literary establishment has been willing to acknowledge the contribution of black and ethnic minority writers like Ben Okri, Alice Walker and Nobel prize winning Toni Morrison. And at the level of popular culture, different races have enriched British life greatly.

1. U.K. Ethnic Groups

1.1 The Native British

The first human inhabitants of Britain settled there in prehistoric times, when Britain was joined to the continent. They came there over dry land.

Later (after 3000 BC1) the Iberians and the Apline tribes lived on the British Isles. Those peoples probably formed the basis of the present-day population of the country.

In different periods of the history of the country it was occupied by different invaders. Soon after 700 BC Britain was invaded by the Celts, who are supposed to have come from Central Europe and settled in Britain. From 55 BC the Celts were subject to the conquest and occupation of the Romans, later (in the 5th century) of the Germanic tribes (the Jutes, the Saxons and the Angles), then of the Danes and of the Normans'. Thus the English nation was formed of all those peoples. [1]

1.1.1 The Anglo-Celtic People

Anglo-Celtic is a notional racial or cultural category, used primarily in Australia to describe people of British and/or Irish descent. To a lesser degree the term is also used in New Zealand, Canada and the United States. It is considered to refer to the ethnic majority in Australia, where it applies to at least 80% of the population. In this instance, «Anglo» is an abbreviation for Anglo-Saxon, a collective term for ancient Germanic peoples who settled in Britain (especially England) in the middle of the first millennium.

«Celtic», in this instance, refers strictly to the nations of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and the Isle of Man. The term does not include the Celtic peoples of continental Europe, such as the Bretons.

The term Anglo-Celtic is used by secessionists in the Southern United States, such as the League of the South, whose mission statement is «to protect the historic Anglo-Celtic core culture of the South because the Scots, Irish, Welsh, and English have given Dixie its unique institutions and civilization». Celtic traditions and customs have continued in England, particularly in extremities of the south west and the north. As a whole, England is not a Celtic country because it lacks a Celtic language; during the 'Celtic' era, Great Britain was populated by a number of regional Celtic tribes, none of whom directly ended up forming the English nation. In Celtic languages, it is usually referred to as «Saxon-land» (Sasana, Pow Saws, Bro-Saoz etc), and in Welsh as Lloegr.

Unlike many of the above examples, there is little political motivation behind this search for a more complex identity, but a recognition that local linguistic and cultural peculiarities can be traced back to Celtic origins. Cumbria, for example, retains some Celtic influences from local sports (Cumberland wrestling) to superstitions, and traces of Cumbric are still spoken, famously by shepherds to count their sheep. There has been a suggestion to bring back Cumbrian as a language and about 50 words of a reconstructed, hypothetical «Cumbric» exist. However, most competent scholars believe that it would be little different from an archaic dialect of Northern Welsh, but the evidence is far too slight to make a meaningful attempt. The county is also home to the Rheged discovery centre profiling the Celtic history of Cumbria. Its name is cognate with Cymru, the Welsh name for Wales meaning Land of Comrades. [2]

English Celtic revivalism has not always been popular with its neighbours, many of whose own revivals have sought to counteract the majority culture of England within the United Kingdom. It also tends to be apolitical, in strict contrast to that of the «Six», Galicia or even Padania. Early revivalism concentrated on King Arthur, fairy and folklore and also Boudicca, whose statue stands outside the Palace of Westminster. Boudicca, who fought Roman imperialism, was looked up to by one or two Victorian English imperialists, who claimed «her new empire» was bigger than the Roman. Modern revivalism has focused more on music, mythology, rituals such as the Druids and a better understanding of Celtic festivals that have been observed in England since the Celtic period, and dialect or language. [3]

Some recent studies have suggested that, contrary to long-standing beliefs, the Germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons) did not wipe out the Romano-British of England but rather, over the course of six centuries, conquered the native Brythonic people of what is now England and south-east Scotland and imposed their culture and language upon them, much as the Irish may have spread over the west of Scotland. Still others maintain that the picture is mixed and that in some places the indigenous population was indeed wiped out while in others it was assimilated. According to this school of thought the populations of Yorkshire, East Anglia, Northumberland and the Orkney and Shetland Islands are those populations with the fewest traces of ancient. [4 p. 26]

1.1.2 The Cornish People

The Cornish people are regarded as an ethnic group of Britain originating in Cornwall. They are often described as a Celtic people. The number of people living in Cornwall who consider themselves to be more Cornish than British or English is unknown. One survey found that 35.1% of respondents identified as Cornish, with 48.4% of respondents identifying as English, a further 11% thought of themselves as British. A Morgan Stanley survey in 2004 indicated that 44% of people in Cornwall identify as Cornish rather than English or British. As with other ethnic groups in the British Isles, the question of identity is not straightforward. Ethnic identity has been based as much on cultural identity than on descent. Many descendants of people who came and settled in Cornwall have adopted this identity.

In the 2001 UK Census, the population of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly was estimated to be 501,267. Cornish community organizations tend to consider half of these people to be ethnic Cornish.

A recent survey by the University of Plymouth found that, when given the opportunity, over a third of pupils in Cornish schools identified themselves as Cornish.

The UK government has agreed recently that English and Welsh will have an ethnicity tick box on the Census 2011 but there will be no Cornish option tick box. Various Cornish organizations are campaigning for the inclusion of the Cornish tick box on the next 2011 Census. Many who perceive themselves to be of the Cornish nation also consider themselves to be descended from the Brythons, or Cornovii (Cornish), of the post-Roman period. For this reason they consider there to be a kinship connection with the Welsh and Breton peoples and more distantly with the Scots, Manx and Irish. After the Anglo-Saxon conquest of southern, eastern and central Great Britain, Brythonic speakers were gradually pushed further into the fringes, eventually cutting them off into three groups - the Southwestern Britons, the West Britons (the Welsh) and the Northern Britons.

This sense of a shared past is given voice in such organizations as the Celtic League and Celtic Congress, both of whom recognize Cornwall and the Cornish as a Celtic nation. Today, many family and given names from Cornwall are clearly rooted in the Cornish language. [1]

1.2 Scotland

The most recent national survey of Scotland's population, the 2001 census, revealed that almost 98% of the country's inhabitants were white. However, it also showed that Scotland's number of foreign-born residents is increasing faster than that of England or Wales.

Out of every 1,000 people, on average: 880 are White Scottish; 74 are White (non-Scottish) British; 25 are from other white groups, including Irish; 11 are Asian; 3 people are of mixed race; 3 people are Chinese; 2 people are Black.

In 2001, 3.3% of people living in Scotland were born abroad, up from 2.5% in 1991. Scotland had a population of just over 5 million people at the time of the 2001 census. It covers an area of 78,772 square kilometers, meaning that, on average, just 64 people live on each square kilometers of Scottish soil (for England the figure is 377, in Wales 140).

The ethnic group classifications used in Scotland's census differ slightly from those in England and Wales, most notably in that white Scottish people and other white British people (mostly people from England and Wales) are counted separately. This latter category forms the largest ethnic minority group in Scotland (7.4% of the population, or roughly one on 14 people), although there is considerable variation from area to area; in Edinburgh, one in nine people (11.4%) are from this Other White British category, while in Glasgow the figure is as low as one in 30 (3.6%). The whole population: 5,062,011. [5]

Table 1.1 Ethnic groups in Scotland

Since the 2001 Census was carried out, the Scottish Executive has actively encouraged migration to Scotland through its Fresh Talent initiative. This was partly born from fears that a shrinking population in Scotland would hinder its economic competitiveness.

Unsurprisingly, given its close proximity to Northern Ireland and Eire, Glasgow has a sizeable Irish population which has left a strong cultural imprint on the city. During the two years from June 2004, an estimated 32,000 people from Eastern Europe came to live and work in Scotland; 20,000 of whom were Poles. For context, in the 2001 census, the White Other group - within which many of these new migrants are likely to belong - accounting for just 78,000 people in the whole of Scotland. Within this total are small numbers of American - and Dutch-born residents; 800 people from the Netherlands alone live in the Aberdeen area, where the Dutch oil company Shell operates a refinery.

Given is close proximity to Ireland, it is not surprising that Scotland has a relatively large Irish population. Nearly 50,000 people indicated this as their ethnic origin in the 2001 census. In Glasgow, which is the city physically closest to the Irish mainland, Irish people make up 2% of the local population. Aside from the Other White British, the next largest ethnic minority group in Scotland is Asian. Although Asian residents make up barely more than 1% of the population as a whole (55,000 people), in some inner-city areas they are highly concentrated. In parts of central Glasgow, such as Pollokshields, as much as 40% of the local population are of Pakistani origin. This city has more than 15,000 Pakistani residents; very nearly half of all people from this group living in Scotland. Unlike in England, where Indians form the largest Asian sub-group, in Scotland it is Pakistanis who predominate, by nearly two-to-one.

Scotland has very few black residents; around 8,000, or 0.2% of the population. Even where people from this group are most strongly concentrated (in Perth), they account for rather less than half of one percent of the local population. Black Africans outnumber Black Caribbean's by almost three-to-one; in England, the latter is slightly more populous than the former. The Chinese population is twice as large as the black population, and proportionally almost the same as in England; only this and the White Irish group are proportionally similarly represented in the population of both countries. [6]

1.3 Wales

Wales is much less ethnically diverse than England; people from ethnic minorities made up only 4% of its population in 2001, compared to 13% for England. Out of every 1,000 people, on average: 959 are White British; 19 are White non-British; 9 are Asian; 6 are of mixed race; 2 are Black; 2 are Chinese.

In 2001, 2.7% of people living in Wales were born abroad, up from 2.2% in 1991. It is also less diverse than Scotland, although like-for-like comparisons are difficult, because Scotland uses a different system of ethnic classification.

At the time of the 2001 census, there were 2.9 million people living in Wales across an area of 20,779 square kilometers. Its population density of 140 people per square kilometer is lower than any region of England.

The population distribution within Wales is very uneven, as it combines a few large population centers with large areas of sparsely inhabited, mostly rural land. Cardiff, its capital city, is home to more than half of all black people living in Wales, and just under half of its total Asian population. Wales has fewer foreign-born residents than any other nation or region in Britain - just 2.7% of the total population - and also recorded the smallest increase in people born abroad at the 2001 census. The whole population: 2,903,085. [5]

Table 1.2 Ethnic groups in Wales

South Wales' Somalis form one of the oldest migrant communities in Britain. The first migrants came to work in the docks of Cardiff and Newport at the end of the 19th century. Today, there are believed to be around 7,000 people of Somali descent living in Wales.

Nearly 26,000 Asian people living in Wales in 2001, making this group the largest ethnic minority in the country. The population is split very evenly between Indians and Pakistanis, although in Cardiff there is a rapidly growing Bangladeshi population which now makes up more than a quarter of all Asians in the city. Aside from Cardiff, where 4% of all residents are Asian, the next largest concentration of this group is in Wrexham (2.6%), where Pakistanis predominate.

Although the number of black people living in Wales appears small, amounting to just over 7,000 people or a quarter of one percent of the population, there is some doubt as to whether the Census 2001 data accurately reflect the true size of the black population. For example, the Somali population in Cardiff alone is estimated at anywhere between 4,000 and 10,000 people, and is thought to be the largest concentration of people originating from this country anywhere in Britain. Unlike England, Wales has a majority African black population. In many parts of Wales, especially in the valleys and to the north of the country, non-white people are a rare sight. In Wrexham, 99% of the population are white, and there are only 164 black people out of a total population of 128,000. [6]

1.4 Northern Ireland

Here is given the number of all persons resident in Northern Ireland and those having moved from Northern Ireland to elsewhere in the UK in the past year.

Table 1.3 Ethnic groups by migration (persons)

Inflow is not an exact count of persons moving into Northern Ireland as it does not include persons who had no usual address one year ago who did not live within Northern Ireland. Outflow is not a count of all persons moving out of Northern Ireland as it does not include persons who have moved outside the UK. Persons under one year old, living in households, take the migration characteristics of their next of kin, instead of 'no usual address one year ago'. Net migration within the UK subtracts the number of persons who have moved out of Northern Ireland but within UK from the number of persons who lived elsewhere outside Northern Ireland but within UK. It does not include persons who lived elsewhere outside the UK. Here is given the number of all persons aged 16 to 74 in employment in the area.

Table 1.4. Ethnic groups by distance to place of work (workplace population)

In this table, the workplace population in an area does not include those persons working in the area who live outside the UK. 'In employment' includes economically active full-time students in employment. 'Works elsewhere outside the UK' includes working at an offshore installation. The distance to place of work is a calculation of the straight line distance between the postcode of place of residence and postcode of workplace. For full-time students their place of residence is their term-time address and their distance to place of work is based on this address. When a full-time student spends part of the week at their 'home' or 'vacation' address, their place of work may be closer to this address and the actual distance traveled to work may be much less. [7]

1.5 England

England is the largest and most populous constituent country of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total population of the United Kingdom. People from minority ethnic groups were more likely to live in England than in the rest of the United Kingdom. They made up 9 per cent of the population of England in 2001 compared with 2 per cent of the population of both Wales and Scotland and 1 per cent of the population of Northern Ireland. Nearly half (45 per cent) of the total minority ethnic population live in London. [8 p. 25]

1.5.1 East of England

Overall, in terms of its ethnic diversity, the East of England region falls slightly below the average for the country as a whole.

Out of every 1,000 people, on average: 914 are White British; 37 are White non-British; 23 are Asian; 11 are of mixed race; 9 are Black; 4 are Chinese.

In 2001, 6.1% of people living in the East Midlands were born abroad, up from 5.1% in 1991. Only one ethnic group - White British, at 91% - is represented here at a proportion greater than the national average, and its share of Asian residents is among the lowest of the nine English regions.

According to the 2001 census, the East of England is home to 5.4 million people, ranking it fourth on the list of England's most populous regions.

Geographically speaking, it is the second largest English region, covering an area of 19,120 square kilometers. It has a population density of 282 people per square kilometer. The whole population: 5,388,140. [5]

Table 1.5 Ethnic groups in East of England

Asians are not, however, the largest ethnic minority group in the region. That distinction goes to the White Other group, which, at 136,000 people, accounts for 2.5% of the population of the East of England. There are three significant reasons for this. The first is the large number of US - and German-born military personnel serving in the area - nearly 65,000 American and German citizens lived in the area at the time of the 2001 census, the vast majority of whom would have described themselves as being of White Other ethnic origin. Second, the region attracts a large number of overseas students, as it contains some of Britain's largest universities, including Cambridge, where people from the White Other group make up nearly 10% of all residents. Third, this region has been one of the leading destinations for non-EU [6]

1.5.2 East Midlands

Nine percent of people living in the East Midlands region at the time of the 2001 Census were from ethnic minority backgrounds. Of the eight other English regions, only London and the West Midlands had a higher proportion of non-White British residents. [5]

Table 1.6 Ethnic groups in East Midlands

Leicester is widely predicted, within the next five years, to become the first city in Europe with a majority non-white population. Only 60.5% of its residents ticked the 'White British' box on the 2001 census form.

Asian people form by far the largest ethnic minority group in the East Midlands. Their numbers are roughly equal to the combined total of all other minority groups in the region.

This is largely due to the 'Leicester effect' - this city alone accounts for half of all Asians living in the region, including 60% of all people of Indian origin. Not all Asian sub-groups are as well represented though - there are proportionally fewer Bangladeshis (less than 0.2% of the population) living here than in all but one of the other eight English regions.

People from the White Other category make up the second largest ethnic minority group in the East Midlands, numbering 57,000, or 1.4% of the population. This is about average for the nine English regions.

Although black people make up less than 1% of the region's population, this is nonetheless one of the highest proportions outside London; only the neighboring West Midlands region has a greater percentage of black residents within its population outside the capital. Of the nearly 40,000 black people living here, more than 60% are of Caribbean descent. [6]

1.5.3 West Midlands

The West Midlands is by far the most ethnically diverse English region outside London, according to the 2001 census data. Nearly one in seven of its population (13.9%) are from ethnic groups other than White British.

Out of every 1,000 people, on average: 861 are White British; 73 are Asian; 26 are White non-British; 20 are Black; 14 are of mixed race; 3 are Chinese.

In 2001, 6.5% of people living in the West Midlands were born abroad, up from 5.3% in 1991.

Nearly 5.3 million people lived in the region at the time of the last census. It covers a geographical area of 13,004 square kilometers, and has a population density of 405 people per square kilometers.

The West Midlands is the only English region, apart from London, where the proportion of residents from the White British group falls below the national average of 87%. Birmingham, England's second largest city and the main population centre in the West Midlands, is second only to the capital in terms of its ethnic diversity. With nearly 200,000 Asian and 60,000 black residents, Birmingham is home to more people from these groups than most entire regions of England (excluding London, only the Yorkshire and The Humber region has more Asian residents, and none has more black residents).The whole population: 5,267,308. [5]

Table 1.7 Ethnic groups in West Midlands

There are nearly 400,000 people of south Asian origin living in the West Midlands (7.3% of all residents). The region is home to one in six of all Asians in Britain. Aside from Birmingham, where 20% of the population is Asian, there are also very large Asian communities in Wolver Hampton, where people from this group form 14% of the local population, and in Coventry (11%). There are more Pakistanis living in the West Midlands - 155,000 - than in any other English region, London included.

Almost a third of all Sikhs in Britain live in the West Midlands; nearly 14,000 live in Coventry alone, where they form nearly 5% of the city's population.

Across the entire region, the population is split fairly evenly between Indians and Pakistanis; at town and city level, though, the tendency is for one group to predominate over the other. In Birmingham, for example, the ratio of Pakistanis to Indians is two to one, while in Wolver Hampton there are ten times as many Indians as Pakistanis.

In terms of its black population, the West Midlands is also second only to London, both numerically (104,000 people) and as a proportion of all residents (2%). The latter figure is nearly twice that of the next region in the list, the South East.

Fifteen percent of all Black Caribbean's living in Britain live here, but only a couple of towns and cities, such as Birmingham and Wolver Hampton, have black populations (4.6% and 6.1% of all residents, respectively) significantly above the national average for England.

Nowhere else in the country has a black population so dominated by the Black Caribbean group; here, they outnumber people of African descent by more than seven to one (contrast this with London, where the Black African population has recently increased to a point where it now exceeds the number of Black Caribbean residents). Most other ethnic minority groups are represented in the West Midlands in similar proportions to other regions of England. There is, however, a much higher percentage of people from the Mixed White and Black Caribbean group than the national average - nearly 40,000 people, or 0.8% of all residents. In Wolver Hampton and Birmingham, this figure is even higher, at between 1.5% and 2%; across the whole of England, only a few inner London boroughs have marginally higher proportions of this group. [6]

1.5.4 London

The London region is, by some distance, the most ethnically diverse in Britain. People from ethnic minority groups made up 40% of its population at the time of the 2001 census.

Greater London is the metropolitan area which includes the City of London and the 32 London boroughs. The average population of each borough is around 250,000.

The region has a population of over 7.1 million and covers an area of 1,579 square kilometers. The population density is 4,761 people per square kilometers, more than ten times greater than that of any other English region.

Out of every 1,000 people, on average: 597 are White British; 120 are Asian; 114 are White non-British; 109 are Black; 32 are of mixed race; 11 are Chinese.

In 2001, 25% of people living in Greater London were born abroad, up from 19% in 2001. All but one of the top 25 local authorities in the Office for National Statistics' 'league table' of ethnic diversity were London boroughs. Only nine of the 32 boroughs were considered less than 'highly diverse' (that is, a less then 50 per cent chance that two people chosen at random will belong to the same ethnic group.

Within Greater London, more than 50 ethnic groups are represented in numbers of 10,000 or more. Nearly three-quarters of England's total Black African population live in London, as do six out of ten Black Caribbeans, half the Bangladeshi population, one in four Indians, a third each of England's White Irish, Mixed, and Chinese populations, and one in five Pakistanis. The whole population: 7,172,091. [5]

Table 1.8 Ethnic groups in London

There is, however, a marked difference in concentrations of people from ethnic minorities between inner London and outer London - in the former, a little over half of all residents are white and of British ethnic origin, but for the latter the proportion rises to two-thirds. London's ethnic make-up is constantly evolving. For centuries, the city has been the first destination for most people migrating to Britain. Today, the fastest growing ethnic minority groups in London are no longer Asian and Caribbean people; over the last decade, white Europeans and African people have formed the majority of new arrivals. According to the 2001 census, the number of black people of African origin living in London has, for the first time, overtaken that of people of Caribbean descent.

Foreign-born people living in London in 2001:

73,000 South Africans; 69,000 Nigerians; 66,000 Kenyans (mostly Kenyan Asians); 50,000 Sri Lankans; 46,000 Cypriots; 45,000 Americans; 41,000 Australians; 39,000 Turks; 38,000 French; 40,000 Germans; 39,000 Italians; 34,000 Somalis; 27,000 Zimbabweans; 27,000 New Zealanders; 25,000 Yugoslavs; 22,000 Portuguese; 22,000 Spaniards; 20,000 Iranians. [6]

1.5.5 North East England

The North East is the least diverse of England's nine regions. At 96.4%, its proportion of White British residents was greater than any other area at the 2001 census, and it had the smallest proportion of ethnic minority residents in 10 of the 16 census categories.

Out of every 1,000 people, on average: 964 are White British; 13 are Asian; 12 are White non-British; 5 are of mixed race; 2 are Black; 2 are Chinese. In 2001, 2.7% of people living in the North East were born abroad, up from 1.9% in 1991.

In 2001, the North East region had a total population of 2.5 million. This makes it by far the least populous region of England; the East Midlands, which is one place higher in the list, has 4.2 million inhabitants. The North East is the second-smallest in terms of area covered, at 8,592 square kilometers. The population density is 293 people per square kilometer of land.

The most diverse town or city in the region is Newcastle, yet even here only its Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Chinese populations are represented in numbers marginally greater than the average for the whole of England. The whole population: 2,515,442. [5]

Table 1.9 Ethnic groups in North East England

The town of Essington, on the North Sea coast, is, according to the Office for National Statistics, part of the least ethnically diverse local authority in Britain. People from ethnic minority groups make up less than 1.3% of its residents.

The region's black population - less than 4,000 people - is especially small, less than 0.2% of the population. This proportion is less than half that of the next lowest region, the South West. In Essington, at the time of the 2001 census, there were only 18 black people within a population of 94,000; it was alone among England's 376 local authorities in recording zero residents in one of the Office for National Statistics' ethnic categories (the Black Other group).

The North East and London are the only two English regions where the Black African population outnumbers the Black Caribbean one (by three to one, in the case of the North East).

The Asian group is by far the largest of all ethnic minorities in the region, at 33,000 people, or 1.3% of all residents. Following the trend elsewhere in northern England, it is Pakistanis who predominate within this group. A third of all Asians in the region live in Newcastle, where they make up 4.5% of all residents.

Elsewhere, populations tend to be very small; in Durham, for example, which has over 85,000 inhabitants, there are just 62 Pakistanis - one of the lowest proportions anywhere in England. [6]

1.5.6 North West England

Statistically, this region ranks seventh out of the nine English regions in terms of its number of ethnic minority residents. Only the North East and the South West have a greater proportion of people from the White British group (92.1%).

Out of every 1,000 people, on average: 921 are White British; 34 are Asian; 23 people are White non-British; 11 people are of mixed race; 8 people are Black; 8 people are Chinese. Foreign-born people accounted for 4% of the region's population in 2001 - up by one percentage point from 1991. On the other hand, some parts of the region - notably Manchester and the Lancashire towns of Blackburn, Preston, Oldham and Burnley - have much larger ethnic minority populations, particularly within the Asian groups.

The North West region has a total population of 6.7 million, according to the 2001 census. Geographically, it is the sixth largest of the nine English regions, covering an area of 14,165 square kilometers. It has a population density of 475 people per square kilometer; only London has a more concentrated population.

Across the region as a whole, there are nearly a quarter of a million Asian people, ranking it behind only London (over 850,000) and the West Midlands (almost 400,000) among all English regions. In Blackburn, one in five residents are of either Indian or Pakistani descent, while Manchester, Oldham and Preston all have Asian populations either close to, or exceeding, 10% of all residents.

These areas in Lancashire are notable for the fact that their large Indian populations are predominantly Gujarati Muslims; most people of Indian descent living in Britain are Hindus.

The entire North West is home to a quarter of England's 133,000 Indian Muslims, but only one in 20 and one in 50 of the Indian Hindu and Indian Sikh populations respectively.

The English-born Asian population in the North West is mostly descended from people who had arrived in Britain during the 1950s and 1960s, following the partition of the Indian subcontinent after the Second World War. However, the roots of the south Asian population here reach much deeper into history; during the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, workers from the subcontinent were a common sight in the mills and textile factories around the Pennies.

It is interesting to note that the Asian population in the North West is very highly concentrated within the Greater Manchester and Lancashire areas. Even if we move just a little further to the west, to Liverpool - which is only thirty miles from Manchester - or to Stockport, the proportion of Asian residents falls dramatically; barely 1% of Liverpool's population is of Asian origin. The whole population: 6,729,764. [5]

Table 1.10 Ethnic groups in North West England

The North West also ranks third among English regions in the size its Irish population. According to 2001 census figures, nearly 80,000 Irish people live in the region.

Paradoxically, the city which is best-known for its historically large number of Irish residents, Liverpool, actually lags slightly behind the national average in terms of its proportionate share of this group. This is surprising, as in 1861 a quarter of Liverpool's population was Irish-born, and the city is geographically closer to the Irish mainland than any other English city. In this case, however, the bare statistics from the Census are likely to be misleading, as recent research by the Office for National Statistics suggests that many people of Irish origin (but not birth) tended to identify themselves as White British rather than White Irish on census forms; in other words, they tend to 'lose' their parent's ethnic identity much more quickly than people from other (non-white) ethnic groups, such as south Asians.

As in most regions outside London and the West Midlands, black people form a very small minority in the North West: less than one per cent of all residents, or just over 40,000 people.

Nearly half of them (18,000) live in Manchester, which is the only town or city in the region to have a proportion of black residents (4.5%) higher than the national average (2.3%). There are more Black Caribbean's than Black Africans living in the region, by a ratio of about three to two. [6]

1.5.7 South West England

The South West is one of the least ethnically diverse of the nine English regions. Only the North East has a greater proportion of White British residents than the 95.3% in the South West.

Out of every 1,000 people, on average: 953 are White British; 24 are White non-British; 8 are Asian; 7 people are mixed race; 4 people are Black; 3 people are Chinese. According to the 2001 census, 4.4% of the South West's population were born abroad. Although low by national standards, this nonetheless represented an increase of 34% compared to the census in 1991, when only 3.5% were foreign-born.

The South West region had a total population of 4.9 million, according to the 2001 census. It covers an area of 23,829 square kilometers, making it the largest of England's nine regions. It is also the most sparsely populated, with an average of just 207 people living on each square kilometer of land.

Because the South West is a largely rural area, its ethnic minority population does not generally consist of geographically clustered communities, as is typical in many urban areas and some other rural regions. Instead, they are characterized by a wide diversity of rural dwellers living as individuals and families, not usually as communities. This has meant that many people from ethnic minorities living in the South West, especially rural Devon and Cornwall, are not present in numbers large enough to support the local provision of culturally specific goods and services, such as halal or kosher food, for example. The whole population: 4,928,434. [5]

Table 1.11 Ethnic groups in South West England

Bristol's St Paul's district has, for many years, been the centre for the Black Caribbean community in the city - nearly one in 10 residents here are black - although people from ethnic minorities tend to be less concentrated here than in other large cities elsewhere in England. More than 81,000 people, or 1.6% of the population, indicated this as their ethnic origin in the 2001 census. Just three other regions in England - London, the South East, and the East of England - have higher proportions of this group.

The next most populous group is made up of people in the mixed category. The South West is the only English region where this group is proportionally better represented than black and Asian people, although in numerical terms the mixed population here is smaller than that of any other region apart from the North East. One reason for this is the large mixed populations in Bristol and Gloucester - more than 2% of both cities' residents - which skews the overall proportion somewhat.

Only the North East has proportionally fewer black residents. In the South West, the Black group makes up just 0.4% of the population. The difference compared to the national average is less marked for black people than Asians, however, because every region in England - apart from London and the West Midlands - has a black population that makes up less than 1% of all residents. [6]

1.5.8 South East England

The South East is the third most ethnically diverse of the nine regions that make up England. Nine per cent of people living here are from ethnic minority groups, but this figure still lags a long way behind that of London (40%) and the West Midlands (14%).Out of every 1,000 people, on average: 913 are White British; 38 are White non-British; 23 are Asian; 11 people are of mixed race; 7 people are Black; 4 people are Chinese. More people live in the South East - a fraction over 8 million - than any English region. In geographic terms, it is the third largest, covering an area of 19,096 square kilometers, and has a population density of 419 people per square kilometer. The towns and cities that are geographically closest to London - such as Reading and Slough - tend to have much greater proportions of ethnic minority residents. For example, Slough has an even smaller proportion of residents from the White British group than London (58% against 60%), while in Dover and Portsmouth, the figure increases to 96% and 92% respectively.

Areas towards the south coast, on the other hand, have been less affected by this trend, although there are exceptions - the port city of Southampton has historically had large migrant communities, particularly from south Asia. The whole population: 8,000,645. [5]

Table 1.12 Ethnic groups in South East England

Education has played a part in the growth of non-White British populations. Some of the greatest recent increases have been in places like Oxford, where the university regards fee-paying foreign students as the key to its future. Oxford, in fact, has some of the highest proportions of residents from the White Other, Chinese and Other ethnic groups of anywhere in England.

London aside, Slough can claim to be the most diverse place in England. If you were to pick any two people at random from its population of 120,000, there would be a 62 per cent chance that they would be from different ethnic backgrounds.

The largest ethnic minority group in the South East is White Other. Together with the South West, this region is one of only two in England where this group is more numerous than the Asian or Black groups. More than 221,000 people indicated this as their ethnic origin in the 2001 census. As mentioned above, this is likely to be due to a number of reasons, including employment and education.

Asian people form the second most populous ethnic minority group: over 185,000 people, or 2.3% of the population. Slough alone is home to more than 33,000 people from this group. There are roughly a third more Indians than Pakistanis throughout the region as a whole, and only in a few places - such as Reading - does the population of the latter exceed that of the former. Black people live in far fewer numbers in the South East compared to the two groups above; there are three times more Asians, and nearly four times more White residents than the 57,000 black people living here. Reading and Slough each account for about 10 per cent of this number, but the typical proportion elsewhere is between 0.5 and one percent - four times less than the national average. [6]

1.5.9 Yorkshire and the Humber

Yorkshire and The Humber ranks fifth of the nine English regions in terms of its proportion of ethnic minority residents. About one in 12 people living in the region are from ethnic groups other than White British.

Out of every 1,000 people, on average: 916 are White British; 45 are Asian; 18 are White non-British; 9 people are of mixed race; 7 people are Black; 2 people are Chinese.

In 2001, 4.7% of people living in the Yorkshire and The Humber were born abroad, up from 3.7% in 1991. According to the 2001 census, the Yorkshire and The Humber region has a total population of 5.1 million. It is the fifth largest of England's nine regions, covering an area of 15,420 square kilometers, and has a population density of 328 people per square kilometer.

Although there are many large cities and towns in the region, large areas of Yorkshire and The Humber are very rural. This means that the degree of ethnic diversity varies considerably throughout the region, with the vast majority of people from ethnic minority groups concentrated in urban areas. For example, while the three major cities of Leeds, Sheffield and Bradford account for just a third of the region's total population, they are home to 65% of all Asians and 70% of all black people.

There are almost as many Asian people - 222,000 - living in this region than all other ethnic minority groups combined. This figure represents 4.5% of the total population. Only London (12%) and the West Midlands (7.3%) have a greater proportion of Asian residents, although both have far larger Asian populations in numerical terms. The whole population: 4,964,833. [5]

Table 1.13 Ethnic groups in Yorkshire and the Humber

One district of the city, Frizinghall, is home to the highest concentration of Pakistanis in England; here, this group makes up 73% of the local population.

Yorkshire and The Humber is one of only three English regions with more Pakistani residents than Indian ones, and the ratio here - nearly three to one - is far greater than in the North West and the North East. The main reason for this is the remarkably large Pakistani population in Bradford; nearly 68,000 - almost half of all people from this group living in the entire region - live here, where they make up one in seven of all residents. This is the highest proportion of Pakistanis in the total population of any city in Europe. Across the entire region, there are nearly 150,000 people of Pakistani descent. The proportions of non-Asian ethnic minority groups in the region are quite small. People from the White Other group make up the second most populous ethnic minority, but form just 1.2% of the population; this is the third lowest proportion among the nine English regions. The proportion of Chinese residents is the joint lowest in England, at just a quarter of one percent of all residents.

Black people make up the third largest ethnic minority group in Yorkshire and The Humber. Proportionally, the Black groups make up 0.7% of the population; this is lower than all but three of the other eight English regions. Out of a total of 34,000 black people in the region, two-thirds are of Caribbean origin. Nearly a third of all black people in the region live in Sheffield, where they form nearly 2% of the local population. Leeds also has a sizeable black population, about 1.5%, but elsewhere numbers are very small - Barnsley, for example, has just 164 black residents out of a total population of 220,000. [6]

In this it is showed Britain multi-racial country with mixed population. This fact creates a number of questions. For instance, how can the problem of a multi-racial society be solved? The number of people asking to settle in Britain is rising. The ethnic minority communities in Britain are about 5,7 per cent of the total population but are likely to rise to about 7 per cent in the early years of the 21st century, because of their higher birth rate. Black immigrants first started coming to Britain in great numbers from 1948 onwards, in response to labour shortages. The minorities are concentrated in the cities. There are already several thousand non-white Britons, mainly in ports like Liverpool, Bristol and Cardiff. Some families date back to the eighteenth century and slave trading.

2. Ethnic Minority Communities

Diversity is a word that conjures up images of policy, political correctness and, to some, positive discrimination. But the reality is that with 7.9% of the total UK population being from ethnic minority communities, the advertising industry is certainly not representative of this, in terms of employment, representation in creative or in its targeting of these communities for their clients.

The 2001 Census breaks down the numbers and provides basic statistical information, showing that the ethnic minority communities have grown by over 50% since the last Census in 1991, whereas the 'White' community has seen a drop in numbers. The largest community is that classified as South Asian (Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi), followed by the 'Black' (Caribbean and African) communities.

Economically, the ethnic minority communities, especially the Asian community is acknowledged as being inspirational, hard working and economically powerful. The younger generations (second and third generation) are brand conscious, technologically savvy and proud of their culture. The communities have a younger age profile, with over 50% of the South Asian community being under the age of 40. This alone represents a strong consumer base, if targeted appropriately and through the right media and supporting vehicles.

Although little solid research exists on the Black and Asian communities and their economic drivers, some key facts are available: 72% of the UK South Asian community live in pay TV homes compared to only 39% of the population as a whole; 74% of South Asians have a mobile phone compared to 69% of the total UK population; 70% own a pc (vs. 50% of UK population); 57% have access to the internet at home (The whole population vs. 47% of UK adult population); 46% own a DVD player (vs. 30% of UK population). [3]

2.1 Population Size

The results of the 2001 Home Office Census were released in February 2003, and put the ethnic community population size at 7.9% of the total UK population or 4,694,681 people out of a total population of 58,84,8579.

The 2001 Census saw the introduction of a new category of 'Mixed' which accounts for those children of mixed inter-racial marriages or partnerships: White and Black Caribbean; White and Black African; White and Asian; Other mixed backgrounds; All Mixed groups.

The remaining ethnic minority groups each accounted for less than 0.5%, but together accounted for a further 1.4% of the UK population.

Analyzing the changes since the last census in 1991, the 10-year period has seen an overall drop in the White population, with the largest growth in the Black African (+0.42%), Pakistani (+4%) and Indian (+0.3%) communities.

The Mixed group is a new category and may account for a small percentage drop in the White, Black Other and Black Caribbean numbers, since the majority of the 'mixed ethnicity' group are White and Black Caribbean (237,000 people). [9]

2.2 Age Distribution

The UK's ethnic minority groups have a much younger age structure than the White population, which is a clear reflection of migration and fertility patterns.

The 2001/2002 Annual Local Labour Force Survey showed that the Mixed Ethnicity group had the youngest age structure, with more than half (55%) being under the age of 16.

The Bangladeshi group also has a younger age structure compared to the other 'Asian' communities, with 38% being aged under 16. This is double the proportion of the White group, where only 19% are under the age of 16.

With regards to the ageing population, the statistics show that the White community has the highest proportion of people aged 65 and over, at 16%, with the Black Caribbean community coming next, with 9% of the group being aged 65 and over.

The impact of the younger age structure in ethnic minority communities is, as stated previously, a reflection of the migration patterns of the communities: the first large-scale migration of people of ethnic minority origin came from the Caribbean shortly after the Second World War and during the 1950s, immigrants from India and Pakistan arrived in the 1960s, many people of African-Asian descent came to the UK as refugees from Uganda and Kenya in the 70s, most Chinese and Bangladeshis came to Britain during the 1980s, many of the Black African communities came during the 1980s and 90s.

The Asian ethnic minority communities, and to a certain extent the Caribbean communities, mainly came as newly-weds, leaving partners and any children behind, to settle and establish themselves before bringing families into the country. [9]

The ethnic minority communities discussed in this document are represented by four generations in the UK:

1st generation - immigrants who settled in the UK in the 50s and 60s

2nd generation - the 'thirty-somethings', some of whom were born in the subcontinent, those under 35 born in the UK in the late 60s and 70s

3rd generation - majority born in the UK in the 70s and 80s

4th generation - predominantly children of second generation Asians [3]

2.3 Households

Anecdotally, many second and third generation Asians will talk about the 'family' unit, and its impact on any decisions they make with regards to marriage, employment and general economic activity.

Historically the Asian community is known for larger households, with younger generations living at home for longer, and with many communities even maintaining the family home and care of the first generation after marriage.

These cultural factors, along with the tendency of the first generation to have larger families, are shown in the analysis of household size:

Asian households tend to be larger than those from other ethnic groups.

In spring 2002 Bangladeshi households were the largest with an average of 4.7 people, Pakistani households had an average of 4.2 people, Indian households had 3.3 people, these households may contain up to three generations with grandparents living with a married couple and their children. Black Caribbean and Other Black households are generally the same size as White households with an average of 2.3 people living together. The South Asian community in the UK is in fact a diverse community comprising several key communities from the Indian subcontinent. They can be differentiated by several factors, including country of origin, language and religion. [9]

2.4 Varieties of Communities

2.4.1 The Indian Community

Migration from Indian subcontinent peaked in the late 1960s and early 70s. Indian people came mainly from Punjab (mainly Sikhs) and Gujarat (mainly Hindus), from a variety of origins, some from farming backgrounds with little formal education, others from towns and cities with vocational or degree level qualifications. There was considerable group of people who first migrated from the Indian subcontinent to East Africa (Kenya and Uganda), then came from Africa to Britain in the early 1970s (often referred to as African Asians). Those from the Indian subcontinent, including the community of East African Asians that migrated from India to Kenya and Uganda and subsequently to the UK can also be identified by religion - Hindu, Sikh, Indian Muslim (also Jain, Buddhist and Christian) languages spoken vary widely, but can be broken down by region of origin into the following main ones: Hindi is the lingua franca of the Indian subcontinent and is also the language of the film industry (Bollywood). Mainly North Indians including Hindu-Punjabis Punjabi stems from the state of Punjabis spoken predominantly by the Punjabi Sikh community. Has a different written script to Hindi, but Hindi and Punjabi speakers communicate well with each other, as there are many common words and phrases Gujarati stems from the state of Gujarat. Gujaratis are mainly Hindu (quite a few Jain) and more traditional and orthodox than their Punjabi counterparts. Again, the written script is different and there are also less verbal bonds than between Hindi and Punjabi speakers. The majority of east African Asians now in the UK are originally from Gujarat and may also speak Swahili there is a raft of other languages spoken in India, including: Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, Multani and Sindhi. [10]

2.4.2 The Pakistani Community

Pakistani people came mainly from rural areas in Azad Kashmir and Mirpur. First generation is far more of a homogenous population than Indian migrants. Typically holding few formal qualifications many Pakistani people in Britain worked in mills and factories when they first arrived and the community has been seriously affected by the decline of manufacturing industry, in these areas most Pakistanis are Muslim. Those from the country now classified as Pakistan. Pakistan was originally part of the whole of the Indian subcontinent until 1947, when at the end of the British Raj, the country was divided into India and Pakistan with separate governments. A key reason for the partition was separation by religion - Muslims were moved from wherever they lived in India to Pakistan and all Hindus and Sikhs who were resident in the new Pakistan moved to the country then known as India. The 'partition' as it is known has been a constant reason for community segregation within the UK. Over the last 40 years the Pakistani communities speak Urdu (including a dialect called Mirpuri) as well as Punjab the state of Punjab was divided during the partition, and as a result there are Pakistani Muslims, who speak Punjabi. The Pakistani community is the most religious and orthodox of the Islamic communities, following the laws of the Koran very strictly (although there are always exceptions to the rule). [10]

2.4.3 The Bangladeshi Community

Bangladeshi migration was slightly different from Indian or Pakistani migration. Many Bangladeshi men came to Britain in the mid-60s and waited much longer to bring families to Britain. The result is that some older men have been in Britain for 20 or 30 years, while their families may have arrived relatively recently, with the peak phase of migration in the 1980s. Most Bangladeshi people in Britain come from rural area of Sylhet in North East Bangladesh, their family backgrounds were, and still are, in landholding or farming like the Pakistani population, they were less likely to have formal educational qualifications than Indian people most are Muslim. Bangladesh was formed from a region that was originally classified as East Pakistan in 1971 according to the 2001 census, the majority of the Bangladeshi population within the UK, resides in London. Approximately three quarters of the population live in the Borough of Tower Hamlets, with smaller communities in areas like Camden, Newham and Westminster most Bangladeshis who reside in these areas are from the Sylhet district of Bangladesh and have strong links back home. They are thus a very close-knit community with strong internal communication networks the Sylheti community has a distinctive dialect, which gives them a strong cultural identity. Traditionally their core values centre around the family, community and business. [10]

2.4.4 South Asian Community

In order to develop a full understanding of the UK's Asian community, a degree of time needs to be spent looking at the historical background to the communities and their ethnic origins. There have been people from ethnic minority groups living in Britain throughout history, and therefore the idea of Britain as a multicultural country is not new. However, the main period of migration for the Asian community has occurred since the Second World War, and the patterns of migration strongly influence their current positions. The UK's Black community is again an aggregation of different communities originating from the Caribbean and Africa. Both communities have differing characteristics, aspirations and historical drivers. [10]

2.4.5 The Black Caribbean Community

Those from the Caribbean islands of: Jamaica, Leeward Islands, Windward Islands, Barbados, Trinidad. One of the major significant factors for the history of Caribbean settlement was Britain's active recruitment of labor to help the war effort: 8,000 men were recruited to serve in the RAF, foresters were recruited from British Honduras to work in Scottish forests, workers were recruited to work in the munitions industry. However, the post war movement from the former British West Indies to Britain is most often linked to the arrival of 417 Jamaicans on the 'Empire Windrush' in 1948 or to the arrival of 100 Jamaicans on the 'Ormonde' a year earlier. By the time of the 1951 Census there were about 17,000 persons born in the Caribbean living in Britain, the movement to Britain acted as a 'replacement population' filling gaps left by the upward mobility of the White population. Migration sustained significant parts of the service industries in Britain, including The NHS and the transport system. The language is not an issue as with the Asian community, with English being the main language across all the communities, religion - Christianity, Jehovah's Witnesses, Rastafarians - not a huge dividing force amongst the groups - again unlike the Asian community where religion is a strong divider. The Black Caribbean community is probably seen as the community that in one way is most integrated into the UK - through its acceptance and success in music, sports, entertainment, media and business. Black Caribbean women are seen to be more successful and have higher rates of self-employment that many other ethnic minority groups. These are an emerging new middle class that has a strong community network, strong Christian principles and are committed to improving education, employment and achievement within their community. However, the social and economic issues that exist within the Black Caribbean community have led to a broadening gap between the community and the 'establishment': the Black Caribbean community have higher levels of unemployment as a whole, 54% of Black Caribbean families are lone parent families, where Black Caribbean women have similar employment rates to White women (72%), young Black Caribbean men have very high unemployment rates. [10]

2.4.6 The Black African Community

Black Africans have a long history of residence in the UK, well before the more recent period of large-scale immigration in the 1960s. The history of their migration differs significantly from those immigrants who were recruited directly for employment. Well-established African communities existed in the seaports of Liverpool, London and Cardiff as far back as the 1940s. Since the post-independence period of the 1960s there has been a marked increase in the number of Africans traveling to the UK for higher education and technical training. The wealth and prestige associated with studying abroad has been one of the key drivers for the African community's migration to the UK - they are 'students who stayed'. Back in 1991, Black Africans were the most qualified ethnic minority group in Britain, with over 26% of the population over 18 years of age possessing higher qualifications. Traditionally there were quite clear career aspirations and targets for the Black African communities. The principal fields of qualification were: management studies, nursing, sociology, education, clinical medicine, engineering, accountancy and law. Within this, there are also clear gender differences, with women outnumbering men in nursing and education. With 53 potential countries of origin, and varied social backgrounds, the Black African population is characterized by diversity, both internally and in comparison with other ethnic groups. The current UK population of Black Africans are largely from: Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Somalia. Language is a differentiator amongst the communities, with each country of origin having its own mother tongue. However, the social structures of the communities that migrated to the U.K. and the strong educational influences that have played a part in the migration have meant that English is now the dominant language amongst the communities. The two main religions practiced by the African communities in the UK are Christianity and Islam. Both have very strong links into the communities and are a reflection of the cultural traditions that bind the groups together. [7]

This chapter includes information about the communities of ethnicity. From that it is seen what great impact ethnic minority communities have on the country. The food the British eat, the music they listen to, the clothes they wear and how they relax have all been influenced by the widely diverse range of cultures which make up Britain. The quality and breadth of the arts and popular culture have been enriched through the contribution of individuals from many backgrounds and traditions. British music, cinema and television, theatre and literature all owe a debt to the creative and talented input from the many people who have come to settle here over the years.

Non British born Black, Asian and other minority ethnic individuals and communities are also making their mark on the new face of Britain as a centre of style, fashion and pioneering ideas in culture and the arts. Londoners speak over 300 languages other than English. Widely spoken languages include Punjabi (spoken by 52% of British Asians), Urdu (32%), Hindi (27%), Gujarati (25%), Bengali, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Vietnamese. Many European languages, such as Turkish, Spanish, Portuguese and Greek are also spoken. These languages are thriving through newspapers and other print media, broadcasting, theatre and the arts.

Britain's urban youth culture influences youth across the world. This culture owes much to the ethnic diversity of Britain's young people, which they can draw on and fuse together, resulting in a unique crossover of ethnic and cultural influences. Youth culture is an important influence on the arts and culture, at home and abroad. The clothes on London's streets appear on Paris catwalks; the sounds young people create in dance clubs and warehouse parties end up on the music charts.

The impact of ethnic minorities is also noticeable in the sheer variety of ethnic foods available in Britain today. Ethnic food is now a part of the everyday British diet, whether it's eating at home or eating out. [4]

3. Today's Population in the UK

3.1 Migration Waves

Migration has become a widely spread problem in the whole UK. Millions of people come there to earn money or even to settle there. From the beginning of the 15th century until the 20th the balance of emigration was markedly outward due to colonial expansions. During the 19th century over 20 mln people left Britain for destinations outside Europe, mainly in the Commonwealth and the United states.

But since 1930s the balance of Migration for Britain was inward. Many emigrants began to return. The dismantling of the Empire has been a gradual process accompanied by the great inflow of people to Britain. Right up until 1962 the citizens of the huge area of the former Empire had the automatic right to live and work in Britain. [8 p. 84-85]

Many Irish people came to England in 1845 to escape famine, to find work. Most of the roads, railways and canals built in the 19th century, were made by Irish workers. The greatest wave of immigration was in the 1950s and 1960s. Many companies needed people for unskilled or semi-skilled jobs. Britain advertised and many people came from the Caribbean islands, from Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Hong Kong. People came here in search of better life, political or religious freedom. British government and people regarded this as a threat to the health of the nation: it increased unemployment, worsened living conditions. It was in these circumstances that the Government introduced the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962 which gave it power to restrict the number of people from the Commonwealth, especially from the Irish Republic. Another Act was passed in 1968 and still another in 1971. The last has sharply reduced the number of people allowed to stay in Britain. [9 p. 72]

Traditionally Britain gave a lot of emigrants to the rest of the world. During the period from 1836 till 1936 about 11 million people left the British Isles. This mass emigration especially in the 19th century was a movement of ruined peasants, and the unemployed. The people hoped to find new opportunities and happiness on new territories. The migrants went mainly to North America (the USA, Canada), Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, to other lands in Asia and Africa. They settled there, spreading the economic, political and cultural influence of Great Britain, as well as the English language, which became the state language of many countries.

Mass emigration from Great Britain stopped during and after World War I, when many countries had to limit immigration. After the 1950s and in the 1960s many people entered Britain especially from the West Indies, Asia and Africa and settled permanently in the country. They made an important contribution to the development of the economy and the public services. British monopolies took great profits from the exploitation of cheap migrant labour. Today there are also groups of Americans, Australians, Chinese and various European communities living in Britain. In the last generation British society has therefore become more multiracial as people from almost all parts of the world have made a permanent home in the country.

Table 3.1. Timeline: Immigration to Britain

3.2 Overpopulation

Great Britain as a whole is a densely populated country; but like all countries it contains areas of very sparse population. Britain has not solved the problem of a multi-racial society. The number of people asking to settle in Britain is rising. With every wave of migration the population is being increased. It causes the problem of overpopulation, which brings to the country a number of difficulties Overcrowding is, however, by no means the only serious feature of the present housing situation.

In mid-2005 the UK was home to 60.2 million people, of which 50.4 million lived in England. 2005 UK population grows to more than 60m. The average age was 38.8 years, an increase on 1971 when it was 34.1 years. In mid-2005 approximately one in five people in the UK were aged under 16 and one in six people were aged 65 or over. The UK has a growing population. It grew by 375,100 people in the year to mid-2005 (0.6 per cent). The UK population increased by 7.7 per cent since 1971, from 55.9 million. Growth has been faster in more recent years. Between mid-1991 and mid-2004 the population grew by an annual rate of 0.3 per cent and the average growth per year since mid-2001 has been 0.5 per cent.

The average age of the population has been estimated using the median value. The median is the mid-point age that separates the younger half of the population from the older half. Mid-2005 population estimates are available at national level by single year of age and sex and subnationally (local authority health area) by five year age group and sex. These include additional selected age groups and broad components of population change along with a methodological guide explaining how the mid-2005 population estimates were produced. For England and Wales at a subnational level, they reflect the local authority administrative boundaries that were in place on 1 April 2005. For Scotland they reflect the council area boundaries that were in place on 29 April 2001. For Northern Ireland at a subnational level, current Local Government District boundaries were set following the 1992 Boundary Commission review which was published in 1993. The estimated resident population of an area includes all people who usually live there, whatever their nationality. Members of UK and non-UK armed forces stationed in the UK are included in their respective Countries and UK forces stationed outside the UK are excluded. Students are taken to be resident at their term time address. The methodology used to update mid-year estimates includes an estimate of the population change due to flows of International migrants. These flows are based on estimates of long-term International migrants (where stays of over twelve months only are counted) therefore this does not include flows of short-term International migrants. Methods and sources used by Scotland and Northern Ireland vary slightly to England and Wales. [12 p. 27-29]

3.3 Relations among Nations

Recognition of ethnic diversity is a feature of British policy abroad as well as at home. There can be no place for racism in world affairs. British policy in Europe, the Commonwealth, and the United Nations, and in bi-lateral relations with individual countries is to promote harmony between ethnic groups. Racism is not acceptable and should play no part in international relations in the 21st century.

Commission for Racial Equality The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) was set up under the 1976 Act. Its duties are: to work towards the elimination of racial discrimination; to promote equality of opportunity and good race relations between persons of different racial groups generally; to keep the working of the Act under review. The CRE has powers under race relations legislation to issue Codes of Practice, to carry out formal investigations, and to issue non-discrimination notices after findings of unlawful racial discrimination. The CRE has conducted over 100 such investigations, resulting in significant changes in employment practices of housing allocation policy. The CRE also has a duty to consider requests for assistance from members of the public who wish to bring legal cases alleging unlawful racial discrimination. If the CRE considers the complaint to be within the scope of the Act it can provide investigative, expert and legal representation at no cost to the individual. Cases are taken to employment tribunals, the employment law courts, or to the civil law courts, where a judge sits without a jury for all non-employment cases. This casework is then followed up by the CRE with relevant good practice publications.

While the CRE takes the lead at national level, Racial Equality Councils are on hand locally to assist in cases of discrimination and to promote race equality. There are 98 Racial Equality Councils funded by the CRE and local authorities.

In Northern Ireland, equivalent responsibilities for tackling discrimination and promoting racial equality rest with the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, which also covers other grounds of unlawful discrimination.

Much of the CRE's work is educational, advisory and campaigning, encouraging organizations to change their practices and behavior to develop racial equality. The CRE's race equality standards for education, employment, local government, and services for young people aim to help organizations measure their progress towards race equality. [6]

Social Exclusion Unit. The Social Exclusion Unit was set up by the government in December 1997 to coordinate and improve government action to reduce social exclusion. Race is a specific remit of the Unit, which is working to ensure that no groups are excluded from government policy and practice. The work of the SEU forms part of the government's strategic approach to tackling social exclusion including all Whitehall departments and many external partners. Tackling social exclusion has been a priority in budgets and spending reviews, with investment in opportunity a priority for the resources released through better control of public finances. The government has committed itself to annual reporting on its anti-poverty strategy in Opportunity for All. The SEU's work has led to a change in the way social exclusion is understood within government and more widely. [9]

For centuries people from overseas have settled in the UK, either to escape political or religious persecution or in search of better economic opportunities. As a result, the UK has a significant multicultural population. [16 p. 51]

The Labor Force Survey estimated that over the period 2001-02, around 4.5 million people in Great Britain (8%) described themselves as belonging to an ethnic group other than 'White'. In general, minority ethnic groups tend to have a younger age profile than the White population, reflecting past immigration and fertility patterns. [18]

Britain has always been a multi-racial society. What is new is the visibility of its racial diversity. And what is newer still is a willingness to accept that all the races can have parity of esteem. For a long time even when it was acknowledged that there were people of different racial origin within the British Isles, there was an assumption that the white race and culture was, and should, be dominant.

Racial stereotyping echoes through British literature and culture almost to the present day. And for some time, assumptions of racial inferiority colored mainstream British perception of non-white culture and art.

But multi-racialism is a tricky balance to achieve. On the one hand, there has to be a measure of economic equality and genuine parity of esteem. But on the other, it should not mean obliterating differences or pretending differences do not exist. Britain would be the poorer without its different races and their different cultural traditions. But it would also be a mistake to try and iron out these differences in the name of multi-racialism. [19 p. 52]

Conclusion

The found information shows that British society is one of the most multi-racial and ethnically diversed in the world. Also it is clear from the research that culture of the communities greatly contributes in British social life. But it is also seen that Britain is very popular among the people who prefer to leave their country in searches for better and easier life. It is also clear that the government appreciated the flow of immigrants in the past years, but now Britain is faced with such problem as overpopulation. Great amount of people come to Britain to find a job and send the money to the family.

The data goes back far enough, so that it could be said that everyone who lives in Britain today has origins somewhere else. Many of them can probably trace the immigrants in their own family histories. Some may have been among the various invading armies - Roman, Saxon, Viking or Norman. Others had little choice about coming: Africans were brought to Britain by force in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as slaves or servants; and thousands of people arrived at various times as refugees from France, Ireland, Russia, and other countries, escaping from persecution or famine in their own countries.

The overwhelming majority of minority ethnic Britons live in cities, with 45% living in Greater London alone. These include Afro-Caribbeans, African Asians, South Asians (Pakistani, Indian, Bangladeshi) and Chinese. The other regions where minority ethnic Britons tend to live are the West Midlands, Yorkshire and Humberside and North West England. In Scotland, minority ethnic people make up only 1.25% of the population. The largest groups there are Pakistani, Chinese and Indian, living mainly in Glasgow, where they make up 3.2% of the population.

Although most of Britain's minority ethnic population live in the main urban areas, they tend to live alongside the majority ethnic community rather than in segregated «ghettos». These main urban areas have greater disadvantage, with higher rates of unemployment, lower household incomes, more overcrowding and poorer housing conditions. Over half of Britain's minority ethnic population, 56%, live in the 44 most deprived local authority districts.

The importance of collecting facts about ethnic minority groups and measuring progress towards equality is now widely recognized. Most major public bodies and increasing numbers of employers and service providers - from government departments to football clubs - now include ethnic monitoring as part of their equal opportunities policies to measure ethnic minority inclusion and participation in the socio-economic and cultural life of Britain. Traditionally Britain gave a lot of emigrants to the rest of the world. During the period from 1836 till 1936 about 11 million people left the British Isles. This mass emigration especially in the 19th century was a movement of ruined peasants, and the unemployed. The people hoped to find new opportunities and happiness on new territories. The migrants went mainly to North America (the USA, Canada), Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, to other lands in Asia and Africa. They settled there, spreading the economic, political and cultural influence of Great Britain, as well as the English language, which became the state language of many countries.

Mass emigration from Great Britain stopped during and after World War I, when many countries had to limit immigration. After the 1950s and in the 1960s many people entered Britain especially from the West Indies, Asia and Africa and settled permanently in the country. They made an important contribution to the development of the economy and the public services. British monopolies took great profits from the exploitation of cheap migrant labour.

Today there are also groups of Americans, Australians, Chinese and various European communities living in Britain. In the last generation British society has therefore become more multiracial as people from almost all parts of the world have made a permanent home in the country. Racial discrimination and poor living conditions have contributed to racial violence, especially in the day-to-day form of relations between young blacks and police, or in the more extreme form of inner-city riots.

Reporting on the Brixton riots of 1981, Lord Scarman wrote, «We must create a black British middle class… black and brown as well as white faces must be seen not only on the production line but also in positions of authority and influence at all levels of society*. But the problem is still vital.

The creed of racial superiority was very much part and parcel of the culture of the empire. The British Empire was built on a theory of racial inferiority. It was the alleged superiority of the non-white races that supposedly legitimized taking over their countries and subordinating them to second class status.

To have a genuinely multi-racial society there needs to be genuine economic equality between the races. It's unbelievable that one can talk about a multi-racial Britain or anywhere else unless there is a measure of economic empowerment for all groups within Society. This means making sure that there is genuine equality of opportunity in education for all races. And that the barriers for black and ethnic minority advancement in business and in the profession are taken down. But economic empowerment for minorities is a necessary precondition but not sufficient to bring about a genuinely multi-racial society. Because nationhood and society is as much about ideas as anything else, the role of culture, literature, philosophy and the arts in building a multi-racial society is key. The first step is that the influence of black and ethnic minorities in the culture of a country like Britain is properly acknowledged.

There is no doubt that the presence of ethnic minorities in Britain and much more foreign travel have transformed the British diet for the better. Noticeably fish and chips have been overtaken by curry as the most popular British takeaway. For many years, Britons have got used to seeing black athletes representing them internationally. We are also seeing an unprecedented level of intermarriage between the races. It is noticeably more common to see mixed race couples in Britain than in the U.S., which has had a larger black population for longer.

So multi-racialism is easy to talk about but hard to achieve. Yet as we have approached the end of a millennium, Britain is a more open, more multi-racial society than ever before, multi-racial society where different races and cultural influences are beginning to be positively acknowledged and given equal respect. British society has come some way but there is still further to go. The indication of Britain's becoming a genuinely multi-racial society is when the skin color of a British MP is no more significant than the color of their eyes.

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