IT HARDLY comes as a bolt from the blue that England and Wales have grown far more diverse in the ten years since the 2001 Census (Scottish and Northern Irish numbers are collected separately). But a new wodge of data from the 2011 version released today shows just how big the change is. Ethnic whites have decreased from 91.3% of the population in 2001 (and 94.1% in 1991) to 86.0%. White British have dropped from 87.5% in 2001 to 80.5% now. And the Irish, the biggest category of foreign-born residents in 2001, are ageing and shrinking.
All other ethnic groups have increased. "Other whites" (including more than half a million Poles) is now the largest category. Indians are still the biggest non-white group, up by around 500,000 to 2.5m, closely followed by Pakistanis at 2m. Those of mixed ethnic origin have shot up, along with the proportion of households combining people from different ethnic backgrounds (from 9% to 12% of the total). Although mixed Black Caribbean and white are still the biggest group, Asians and Black Africans are also intermixing with whites more than before.
London remains the most diverse city by far. White Britons now account for less than half (almost 45%) of its population for the first time, and more than one in three London residents is foreign-born. London's excellent demography unit has put up some useful analysis of the new figures. But diversity is definitely lapping outward from the capital and its other big-city strongholds in the Midlands and the Northwest. The Northeast may still be the whitest bit of England and Wales, but its non-white population has about doubled over the decade.
Britain’s alleged descent into godlessness continues, with significant exceptions. The percentage of those saying they have no religion has risen from 14.8% to 25.1%, despite the fact that Muslims are more numerous. They now account for 4.8% of the population, up from 3% ten years ago. Christianity is the big backslider. But London breaks the trend a bit. The share of those in the capital professing no religion has risen over the decade but by less than it has nationally. This is thanks not only to the increase in Muslims among its residents but also to an influx of migrant Catholics and resilience among Evangelical Christians. Across England and Wales, the number of pranksters owning to worship of the Jedi fell sharply.
With housing woes increasingly in the news since 2008, the census shows the degree to which England and Wales is becoming a nation of renters. The percentage of households who own their own homes has fallen from 69% to 64% (though the proportion of those who own them outright has risen slightl). Private renters have increased from 9% of all households in 2001 to 15%. More people now rent privately than rent from the council (down from 13% to 9%).
It is the detail that provides the real stories, though. Only one local authority in England and Wales saw an increase in the proportion of white British between 2001 and 2011: Forest Heath, in Suffolk. The largest decrease in white British was in Barking and Dagenham in outer London, where it fell by 31.4 percentage points. (It is easy to see why the right-wing British National Party thought they had a chance there in the 2010 elections, though in the event the voters saw them off comprehensively.) The smallest proportions were found in the London boroughs of Newham (16.7%) and Brent (18%), and outside London in Slough (34.5%). Boroughs in outer West London—Harrow, Hounslow and Brent—rank among the five local authorities in the country with the highest proportion of ethnic Indians, whereas five inner London boroughs, led by Kensington and Chelsea, have the highest proportions of "other whites", including American and EU working migrants.
On religion, the question has got to be why God seems to have forsaken the Welsh Valleys. They account for three of the five local authorities where "no religion" looms largest. The Northeast cleaves most notably to the God of its (mainly white British) forebears. Among the handful of local authorities where the number of Christians increased were highly diverse London boroughs, including Newham, Haringey and Brent.
The Census folk are keen to remind us that the country overall saw a big increase in population between 2001 and 2011. Over half of it (55%) was due to immigration. At the same time, there was a skew towards youth, with 16- to 29-year-olds increasing sharply. Young people are more likely to rent, and less likely to profess themselves Christian (unless they are Polish). Ethnic identities are blurring. Not only are mixtures becoming more complicated (think Tiger Woods, in America) but also children of immigrants (or those who arrived as young children) may identify more than their parents with their new home (calling themselves Black British rather than Black African, say).
National identity adds to the complexity. For the first time, people were asked in 2011 how they saw themselves, allowing multiple expressions of national identity. More than two-thirds chose English, and almost 58% chose only English—most strikingly in the North-East, which is also the whitest and least foreign-born of the regions. British identity was chosen by 29% (most frequently in London) and 19% chose only British. More Census revelations are scheduled for next year, and through more detailed cross-tabulations of age, ethnicity, national origins and so forth should increase our knowledge of not only how Britain is changing but why.
